Determined to be Happy
by Cthulhu555
Summary: See first chapter for longer, more detailed, summary. Basically, I just like having these characters in happy, entertaining, situations after moving to the surface. Asriel is back based off of "A Happy Ending." Hope you like it!
1. Foreword

Foreword

My name is Logan Chase. I really like Undertale and after reading lots of Undertale Fan Fiction, decided I wanted to create my own. I'm an excessively optimistic and happy person. I like being happy, and I like making those around me happy. I find that a lot of Fanfictions take the great characters I love from the game and start off happy and eventually have bad things happen. My intention is to make a Fanfiction for myself, one consisting entirely of happy, entertaining, and funny stories created by Frisk and co. when they try to live in the Human world together. I'm making this Fanfiction to fill a hole in content of stories solely about their lives with no Chara, no mental trauma, and limited drama, I'd just like to see these characters truly happy, with nothing in their way, and I'm going to make it, and I hope some of you find it and like it too. My story is based off of Greater Dog's "A Happy Ending," where Asriel is brought back and lives with Frisk and Toriel. I'm borrowing their idea of Asriel coming back and using that as a springboard to happy stories, If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it and without further ado, I'll get started.


	2. A New Beginning

A New Beginning

It had been a week since the malevolent and sadistic creature named Flowey had returned to his original self, a kind monster, beloved son of Toriel and Asgore. Everyone came to terms pretty quickly with his return, surprisingly. Toriel and Agore were both overjoyed to have their child back, though they still refused to talk to each other. Asriel quickly took an extreme liking to Frisk, and vice-versa. They spent large portions of the day walking on the surface in a forest near their new home. There, they lived with Toriel and all the pies she could make. Everyone wanted to stay close, so lots of monsters bought houses next to each other, near a nearby Human city. There had been relatively little contact with the Humans thus far, as the areas inhabited by Monsters were temporarily declared off limits until lots of legal issues could be resolved by the Human authorities. However, early impressions were good, especially with Asgore, Papyrus, and Frisk at the helm of Human to Monster interactions. Many of the boss monsters bought houses on a cul de sac to stay even closer to one another. Undyne and Alphys shared a home next to a house inhabited by Sans and Papyrus, who in turn lived next to Toriel's small but cozy cabin of a house. Next to her house was an extravagant house bordering on being a mansion, a house that Mettaton and Napstablook lived in, though they were rarely home as they were already touring for the amusement of both Humans and Monsters. The boss monsters, friends (and sometimes lovers) all of them, grew even closer together through previously unknown proximity. The houses were mostly empty, as most of the houses were yet to have their possessions brought to the surface. However, it was soon discovered that the Temmie race as a whole could transport large amounts of goods extremely quickly using their excess energy for free because they were bored. However, Asriel and Frisk offered to bring Toriel's things to the new house themselves, as it gave them lots of time to talk and have fun. Being Toriel, she refused to let them go alone, so each morning for a week or two, the three of them ate breakfast, packed lunches, and traveled back to the Underground. Luckily, the River Person refused to leave the Underground entirely, still offering rides to anyone who asked for one.

"Mom, what does it mean when someone says you're blooming?" Frisk asked politely.

Toriel responded by holding a finger in the air and in a gentle tone saying, "Just a moment, my child," as she struggled to enter the boat while carrying several boxes. Toriel did not like the unsteady nature of a boat, so it took her a while to adjust to the sensation. When she was ready, she responded with

"In what context, and who told you that?"

Asriel answered before Frisk could, "Sans said it to them before we left."

"What happened before that?"

Both children thought very hard, and simultaneously came up with an answer, interrupting each other while trying to answer:

"We were… n's house and… temmie…"

Toriel hushed both children and sighed before gently cooing

"School rules, what do we do?"

Both children looked down, filled with shame as they said "Raise our hand."

"Good. Now," Both hands shot up with incredible speed, but Frisk's determination won once again.

"Well, we were just talking to Sans about the Temmies and how they could possibly move so much and then he laughed and said that I was blooming."

Toriel thought for a moment, smiled, and said, "I think that's his way of saying you're becoming more talkative, coming out of your shell, like a snail. Although, they don't usually come out of their shell unless they have to, so…"

The children lost track of what Toriel said as she continued to ramble about snails and instead both remarked about how it was true that since moving to the surface Frisk did talk much more. As they discussed, the boat suddenly stopped, nearly throwing them overboard.

"We're here. I'll wait for you. Have a good day, your majesty."

"And you as well," as Toriel eagerly left the wretched boat, nearly forgetting the boxes they needed to carry things. They had a short walk through Snowdin to the ruins. About an hour after their departure, they were ready to start. Toriel carefully packed the last of the books while the children went and made sure everything was taken from their rooms. After everything was confirmed to be clear, they went through the rest of the house, and found everything was clear except for the books Toriel was doing and… Well, they hadn't checked Toriel's room.

"Did she already clear her stuff?" whispered Asriel.

"I don't remember, actually. Should we check it out?"

"I don't know, she might not like it. Honestly though, what could possibly be in there that she wouldn't want us to see?"

"Well, anything and everything, for one."

It was at that moment that they heard a scratching sound come from the room they were standing outside of. They looked nervously between each other.

"S-should we open it?" Asked Asriel with a terrified expression.

"I guess. We can handle it, right?" But Frisk didn't seem so sure.

"You open it."

"No, you open it."

"You saved a whole civilization."

"You're the God of Hyperdeath."

Both looked into the other's eyes for awhile before a gesture from Frisk convinced Asriel. He sighed, allowed a fireball to come to his side, just in case, and breathed in deeply as he placed his hand on the doorknob.

As the door opened, Frisk was immediately brought to the ground by a fast, small, object that went straight for his ankles. Asriel would later be glad that he hesitated to blast the creature to oblivion, as soon Frisk's screams became roaring laughter. He would also be glad that he hesitated to throw it again, when his mother came barreling down the hallway.

"Oh, you found him. Good. BUT WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM!?"

Asriel barely heard a word as he looked down at the small brown puppy still licking Frisk, who was still writhing on the floor, rapt with giggles.


	3. What's in a Name?

What's in a Name?

*A Few Hours Later

The puppy had calmed down (somewhat) and they were all eating in the living room of the house, with everything packed away.

"Well, I guess this will be our last time in this house." Toriel seemed slightly sad at this thought, but brightened seeing her two beloved children eating happily at the living room table. Papyrus had packed them all spaghetti, and they ate it greedily, while their newest friend waited under the table, hoping and pleading for scraps, despite a full bowl of food.

After a 4th bowl of spaghetti, Frisk asked:

"So, how did this dog get here before us? We've been with you every time you came here."

"Yeah, how did you do that?"

"You see my children, I didn't do it, but Sans did." She said with a smug and knowing smile.

Realization clicked in both their heads, but especially with Frisk, as he pictured in his head Sans holding a puppy as it chewed on one of his many bones before he winked and took a "shortcut" to get here faster than should be possible, place the dog and leave before anyone even knew he was gone.

"But we got him together. I found him outside the school and couldn't just leave him. So, Sans kept him for the past few days while I secretly prepared our house for his arrival. I'll show you what I mean when we get back. The hardest part was keeping Papyrus from spoiling it."

Frisk, while staring deeply into it's brown eyes asked, "What are we going to name it?"

"I leave that up to you two."

Both Frisk and Asriel could barely contain their excitement at this incredible opportunity. A tough name, or a sweet name? Probably sweet as it was even less intimidating than a Froggit. A joke, or just something cute? This inner dialogue only lasted a few seconds before they remembered they could actually talk to each other and excused themselves from the table to go to the guest room and debate.

About an hour later, Toriel knocked on the door and told the children to get ready to leave. They still had not come to a conclusion on the name, and as they argued over who would carry it. Toriel broke in with a suggestion

"Say Frisk gets the puppy on the way to the boat, I get them on the boat, and Asriel gets it on the way back to the surface. Deal?"

"Deal." They both said cheerfully.

"Now, about the name, the choice doesn't have to be made now, and I think it would be a good idea to ask all your friends about it first. Maybe we can have a little voting booth and everything, pick a name that way."

Frisk agreed that that sounded good, while Asriel was a bit confused on the concept of an election, so Frisk tried to explain on the way to the boat, with Toriel interjecting at certain points to add details or make small corrections.

Frisk could only imagine what would come in the future, but their first concern was the young dog that lay gently breathing in their arms. And whatever well-meaning but probably moronic name Papyrus would come up with. Frisk smiled once again.


	4. The Bone Zone

As they crossed the threshold that was once the barrier, Toriel told the children to go to San's house while she dropped off the things at their house. They thought that this was a lot for her to carry, but Toriel proved stronger than she looked, and before they could even try to help she was already quickly jogging towards the house.

"Well, guess we'll see her in a bit." Frisk said.

"Yeah. Hey, when does Papyrus usually come back from the city?"

"He doesn't really have a "usual" time. He just kind of, wanders around in human clothes trying to learn as much as possible about what humans do. I heard he has a tendency to show off his badge that lets him into the city to people he meets, making sure they know that, "IT'S THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD, AND IT BELONGS TO ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! PLEASURE TO MEET YOU!" Frisk said, the last part imitating Papyrus scarily well.

Asriel burst into laughter, hunched over, and they decided to stop for a minute to enjoy their laughter and pass Papyrus impersonations back and forth.

"HUMAN, I TRIED SOMETHING NEW TODAY, I PARTICIPATED IN A "WATER GUN" FIGHT WITH LOTS OF CHILDREN LIKE YOU! IT RUINED MY SUIT, BUT THAT WAS A SMALL PRICE TO PAY, FOR AT THE END OF THE DAY, I CLAIMED VICTORY FOR THE ROYAL GUARD AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS!

"Wait...Wait." Asriel gasped out in between fits of uncontrollable laughter. "What… If he… One day, went out into the streets with spaghetti in his pockets and threw it at people?"

Frisk was quick in the response of, "HUMAN, ENJOY THE GREAT PAPYRUS' DELECTABLE CREATIONS! ENJOY!"

They both laughed uncontrollably until they were cut off by a low, chilling, voice

"So, you like making fun of my brother, hunh?"

Asriel looked at the short skeleton (currently sans pupils) in extreme fear, while Frisk stood smiling at him.

It seemed like ages had passed when suddenly Sans' pupils returned as he light-heartedly said, "That's all right, I like to make fun of him too." Asriel visibly relaxed, though he still seemed a little tense, and Frisk struggled to contain a giggle at the fear his furry friend displayed. Frisk knew Sans wouldn't hurt either of them, and he enjoyed that his companion even considered that he would.

"C'mon kids, let's get inside, Papyrus should be home soon and I want to surprise him with that pup. I get the feeling he'll enjoy it just as much as you two."

Soon after, Sans napped on the couch while Frisk and Asriel played with their puppy, throwing a stick in the house and petting it affectionately. They decided to wait to ask Sans his opinion on the name. Frisk and Asriel eventually got bored and the dog got tired, so they watched TV until Asriel suddenly stood up.

"What's wrong?"

"I have an idea."

"Let's hear it."

Asriel shushed him, and then beckoned him forth as he stealthily walked towards the kitchen. Frisk was very confused until he saw what Asriel was moving towards. In a cabinet, Papyrus' "special attack" was already moved there, a cabinet filled with bones. Asriel took a bone and gave it to the dog, who chewed it happily. While the dog was distracted, Asriel whispered for Frisk to stay while he did something. Frisk waited patiently and Asriel soon returned with something in his hands. He didn't see what it was until Asriel had finished tying a bright pink ribbon in a bow around the dog's neck. Asriel stepped back and admired his new design and Frisk gave a supportive thumbs-up with a smile. As he was about to ask where it came from, the door swung open loudly and a loud voice paraded into the room as Sans startled awake and fell to the floor.

"SANS, I'M HO-OH, HELLO PRINCE AND HUM-!" His greeting was cut short by a sharp intake of air as he saw a small brown puppy aggressively wagging it's tail as it looked up at him.

"OH. MY. GOD. SANS, THERE'S A DOG IN OUR HOUSE. AND IT'S BEAUUTIFUUUL! AND IT'S EATING MY SPECIAL ATTACK!"

At that moment the pup charged the large skeleton, still in a light blue suit and dress pants, seeing a mound of bones ripe for chewing. Papyrus scooped the dog up from the floor as it approached and held it up in the sky, staring into it's eyes.

"IS IT THEIRS?"

"Yep."

"I'LL MAKE CELEBRATORY SPAGHETTI!"

A collective groan filled the room, that Papyrus somehow missed or just decided to ignore.


	5. The Survey Part 1

As Papyrus prepared his favorite dish, Sans was ready to continue his nap when he was tapped on the shoulder.

"Whahunh?"

Frisk stood in front of him, holding a box with CHESS written on all sides. Frisk raised an eyebrow at him and Sans remembered that he promised to teach Frisk and Asriel how to play so they could play at home when they wanted to.

"Alright, let's do it."

Before they could open the box, there was a knock on the door followed by a gentle, "Knock knock."

"Who's there?" Sans replied to the familiar voice.

"Adore"

"Adore who?"

"Adore is between us, so open it."

"Yes, ma'am."

Sans opened the door and Toriel came in carrying two pies, one smelling of Butterscotch and the other Cinnamon.

"AH, YOUR MAJESTY! I WAS JUST BEGINNING TO MAKE A POT OF SPAGHETTI! WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN ME?"

"Certainly, just a moment."

"EXCELLENT!"

"Sans, I don't mean to intrude, but we just finished moving and I wished to celebrate with all our friends, but our house is too small. Do you think we could ask everyone if they would like to come over here for a small party, of sorts?"

"Sure, Tori."

Sans and Papyrus lived in a house that was pretty large and could easily fit all of their friends. The only house bigger was Mettaton's. Toriel soon got on the phone and called all of their friends. Everyone said they would be happy to come except Mettaton who said he would try to make it, but had an autograph session that day and with all the fans he might be late or not show at all. Toriel listened, rolling her eyes repeatedly while listening to the pure vanity that Mettaton embodied, then hung up and went to ensure Papyrus did not destroy his new kitchen.

Soon after, Sans had set up a chessboard and was trying to explain the rules, but this was harder than he thought as he continued to be interrupted by two eager young children.

"So the bishop can move diag-."

"What's a bishop?"

"Oh, it's a guy that tells people things."

"Why would he be fighting in a war?"

And then Frisk asked, "Why are they fighting at all?"

Sans replied with, "I don't know and I don't care, would you like to learn to play or not?"

"We want to." They said in near unison.

"Then hush."

After this final discussion, it took about 6 minutes for him to finish and then Frisk and Sans began their first game. Sans easily dunked the new player, who had not yet developed any amount of strategy or tactics. It was at this moment that Frisk became determined to become a master chess player, no matter what. However, this train of thought was derailed when he was pushed to the side as Asriel moved to take his turn. Asriel lasted substantially longer than Frisk but was eventually overtaken all the same. Before they could figure out what to do next, there was a knock at the door. Frisk got up to get it, but it slammed open before they could make it. Through it, came Undyne, followed by Alphys.

The puppy, still happily sporting a ribbon and chewing a bone, had already accepted its new family and was ready to defend them to the death. As it prepared to let loose with a barrage of barks, Undyne snarled at the dog and it wisely retreated to a back room. Undyne moved to the Kitchen while Alphys followed the dog. Recently, she had been studying every animal she could get her hands on, and she wouldn't let this opportunity pass her by. She soon returned carrying the terrified creature and began spouting information about the dog. As they had nothing better to do, Frisk, Asriel, and Sans listened attentively.

"This is a breed called a Dachshund, very common on the Surface, known for being super-kawaii!" She noticed Sans' evident confusion and quickly added, "Or, cute. Heh heh. They're also very aggressive for their size and challenge almost anything bigger than them. They're also called Wiener dogs, uhh… for their sausage-like shape and they are um, very popular with Humans."

Sans got a sudden twinkle in his eye, and Frisk waited with anticipation for the pun he knew was coming, as Sans drew in a long breath.

"So you could say, he's a…"

"SANS, NO!" Suddenly came from his brother in the kitchen.

"... Hot Dog."

Undyne and Toriel quickly restrained Papyrus as Sans, Frisk, and Asriel doubled over in laughter, partly from the terrible joke, but mostly from Papyrus' nearly uncontrolled rage. Papyrus yelled random, empty, insults and threats at his brother, most of them unintelligible, and Sans took them all in stride with a permanent smile.

After several rounds of chess, Frisk and Asriel had refined their technique a little, and the spaghetti they were all promised was finished. The spaghetti, after being put through the brutality of Undyne, the ineptitude of Papyrus, and the magic touch of Toriel, was a fair substitute for edible food. As they all settled in to eat, they watched a movie that Humans had made some time ago that Papyrus borrowed from someone. He claimed it was a gripping story about a father trying to find his son, but it seemed to be about fish and it took everyone a while to figure things out. Eventually they realized that the story was as they were told, but the main characters were the fish and Undyne took an immediate liking to the story, finding it easy to relate to. They all enjoyed it, but at a point about halfway, Frisk and Asriel nodded at each other before pausing the TV and rising from their "workstation," otherwise known as the floor. They soon calmed the voices of dissent from their friends and told them they had a question. They held the puppy they now knew to be a "Weiner dog," aloft, and explained they did not yet have a name and would like to open the name to their friends. They placed a colorful and well-decorated cardboard box with a slit cut into the lid, large enough for slips of paper to slip through. They asked each participant to anonymously write a possible name, fold the paper, and place it in the box. Once they got the votes from other friends they wanted to ask that were not present, the choices would be reviewed and they would choose from the list. The monsters seemed impressed with the thought and creativity put into this little democratic experiment and everyone, with the exception of Undyne, who argued it was indecisive and weak to let someone else choose, eagerly placed votes. After severe peer pressure and encouragement, Undyne begrudgingly submitted an entry. They than sat down and happily watched the rest of the movie, with Frisk and Asriel on either side of Toriel on a sofa, leaning on their collective mother, Sans and Papyrus sitting next to each other on a couch, and Undyne and Alphys lying on the floor. Eventually, everyone said their goodbyes and went home, with Frisk and Asriel making last-minute plans in their room to talk to Mettaton, Monster Kid, Asgore, Napstablook, and at least one of the Temmies the next day. They slept soundly, looking forward to a busy but likely entertaining day, in only 8 short hours.


	6. The Survey Part 2

The children woke up and quietly checked if their mother was up. If she was asleep, they would have to delay their plans until she awoke, as there was no way they would leave without asking. She wasn't yet up, per say, but they heard stirring as a bark that had become familiar in the past few days rang through the house. Her door opened and she walked out, stretching as she did so.

"*Yawn. Oh, good morning my children. Now, I know you want to go talk to everyone you missed yesterday, but first, I have important news to tell you. The legal troubles about the Monsters living situation have been solved and all monsters are now allowed anywhere they wish to go, like the city, the nearby national park, and stuff like that. A lot of them are out in the city right now doing whatever they want, so I recommend waiting to the end of the day and doing something else until later in the day. Maybe you can go to the city and do some exploring. From what I understand it'll be weeks before we really know the city well and there'll probably always be something new. I want you to stick together, most humans may be slow to adapt to this change, they can be anything from curious to repulsed, so stay kind, respectful, and be the perfect children I know you to be. With that being said, I'm going to make some breakfast before we go. Papyrus and, ahem, Asgore, sealed the deal last night and Papyrus used his diplomatic powers to bring me a cookbook of Human breakfast foods. I'm going to try and make something called "French Toast." Sound good?"

Both children were stunned for a few moments, then nodded their understanding. They said they were going to wait for it in their room and practically exploded with ideas of what to do. By the time Toriel called them, they had prepared a proposal. Over the meal, they brought up the idea that they should find a place with something fun they could do to celebrate their newfound freedom. Preferably, they go somewhere that is readily accepting monsters. Toriel said she heard of something called "Bowling," and there was an alley that was actively welcoming Monsters with discounts and such, trying to capitalize on the new market. Soon, Toriel was once again on a phone inviting all their best friends and a couple others to a place they had never been to. This time, everyone they called agreed to be there. However, there was one person that Toriel would not call: Asgore. It seemed like the return of their son had not only stoked the flames of her anger at Asgore, but brought them to a temperature never seen before. Frisk and Asriel nervously looked between them, not wanting to push and get in trouble, but also wanting to see the gentle king and father to one of them. They decided against asking Toriel, instead discreetly texting Undyne to invite him.

As the scheduled bowling alley time was far away, Toriel went into town alone to rent books from the library, entrusting the children to stay home, play chess, watch movies, and do anything that didn't require them to leave the cul de sac. After some games of chess, they decided to ride bikes around the neighborhood until their legs were sore. They went back inside and must have fallen asleep as they awoke suddenly hours later on the couch when Toriel returned and told them to get ready to go. A half-hour later, Mettaton (In EX form almost always nowadays, as Alphys was able to find a stronger power source) , Napstablook, Monster Kid, Undyne, Alphys, Sans, Papyrus, Toriel, Asriel, and Frisk were all outside the Bowling alley, making small talk as they waited for the alley to clear, as they had reserved it for the night. Money was not tight amongst the monsters who used to pay for things with pure gold. They separated into groups with Monster Kid, Undyne, and Alphys in one, Mettaton, Napstablook, and Papyrus in another, and Frisk, Asriel, Toriel, and Sans in the last group. As none of them had ever played before, the owner, a charismatic, short, man with a large beard, demonstrated how to play and explained the rules. He then exclaimed, "Let's get this show on the road!" And was delighted to stand against a wall and watch their opening struggles. Everyone did poorly on the first throw, with the children, muscle development was the biggest problem, with everyone else, it was just lack of skill (And in two cases, possibly lack of muscles entirely).

"Don't worry Darling, I'm sure we'll get it soon. Besides, we have all night." Mettaton cheerfully said, speaking to no one in particular. If it wasn't for his cousin's encouragement, Napstablook might have cried right then and there, considering he could barely muster the strength to roll the ball due to his ghost form.

Undyne was warned not to use her full strength, or even a quarter of her strength for that matter, as Alphys feared she would break their lane. Undyne was too careful however, and under-rolled to the point that she threw a gutter ball. Alphys was terrified of her reaction, but she just laughed it off and said she was taking a walk outside. It was much later, when they were leaving, that they discovered dozens of spears violently jammed into the ground and thrown into trees near the alley. Monster Kid, however, believed she could do no wrong and practically fainted when seeing the carnage his hero had wrought.

Frisk and Asriel tried their hardest, and their balls made it to the pins, but didn't quite have the strength to knock them all over, each knocked over a few pins on both throws. Sans only got a few pins, and an odd thing happened where he stood in front of the lane with a slight grimace. It took Frisk waving a hand in front of him before he regained his senses, shrugged and with a smile said, "Sorry guys, guess I went a little bone-headed there." Toriel was the only one to even crack a smile, but she did a little more than that and let out a slight giggle.

After the first round, everyone set up to play the next, hopefully with improvement, when the door opened to a special guest: the King himself.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone. Mind if I join you Undyne?"

"Of course not Asgore."

"Thank you."

Asgore took his first throw, and scored a perfect strike. He blushed a little and explained that he may have already played here while discussing with the mayor. It was noticed by Frisk that out of the corner of his eye, Sans flashed his eye once and his smile grew wider than before. On his next turn, he also achieved a strike, to much applause. It was practically forgotten that he had a miserable first attempt. The first game quickly became a fun and light-hearted terrible first try for everyone, except for Asgore and Sans, who developed a friendly competition. It was clear now that Sans was holding back earlier and somehow, somewhere had become proficient at a sport no monster had ever been known to play. Even Napstablook enjoyed himself, especially getting a huge round of applause for getting a spare from a nasty split. At the end of the first game, Asgore barely lost to Sans, by a total of 7 pins, and everyone else didn't bother to keep track but had lots of fun. As they prepared for the next game, two things happened. The first of which was an event that threatened to ruin the night. Papyrus asked Sans how he had gotten so good at Bowling, to which he replied:

"I guess I'm just a real pinhead."

Which in turn prompted Papyrus to run outside screaming his brother's name, refusing to return for a full two minutes, much to the entertainment of everyone, especially the Human owner, who snuck a high-five to Sans when he believed no one was watching. After everything settled down, Frisk and Asriel brought a box to the front and explained the election to everyone who hadn't already voted. Frisk passed around a picture of the dog so that their friends had inspiration.

"Oh my GOD! It's so ADORABLE! Darlings, can I come see it when this is over? I think I have a wonderful idea!"

Frisk and Asriel looked between each other, supposed it would be at least worth it to hear him out, even just for laughs and agreed to talk about it with Mettaton later. Mettaton seemed to shiver with excitement before taking a pen and paper to cast his vote. The voting box was passed around with no further comments and the ballots taken. Frisk and Asriel quickly turned to each other and made a quick pact to try and guess which votes came from who when the vote was over. There was only one thing left to do, read the options, and take a vote.


	7. The Survey Part Final

Frisk and Asriel said they were going to announce the candidates, then everyone would get a slip of paper with their name on it to vote. They were also informed that they could not vote for the name they made, to prevent a tie of any kind.

"The nominees for names are: Sparkles, Brownie, Noodle, Bones, Buttercup, Snail, Tears, Mew, and Nemo. After we've collected the votes and announced the winner, we'd like to have one more game where we all guess who chose what name." Frisk thought to himself that this would be the easiest thing in the world.

After everyone voted, the votes were all over the place, but Brownie was the clear winner.

"Brownie has won the contest, and now we get to guess who wrote that one first. Would anyone like to guess?"

No one volunteered.

"Oh-kay. Asriel?"

"Oh yeah, unh, I think it's-"

"It was me guys! Oh yeah! Sorry, I couldn't hold it any longer!" Shouted Monster Kid, practically exploding out of his chair.

"Cool. How did you come up with it?"

"Well, he's brown, and I like brownies, so… It all came together."

Everyone smiled at the cute and sometimes naive kid, and then prepared themselves for the rest of the show.

"Would anyone like to hazard a guess?"

Undyne stood up as she said, with less confidence than she usually had, "Uhn, yeah. I think the, um, Mew one was, Alphys."

"Oh, unh, well, how did you, ya know, know?

"Alphys, we've been… Doing this a while, I know a lot of things about you, and everyone knows you like Mew Mew Kissy Cutie. Which, is why I got you this."

Undyne pulled a wrapped present from a pocket on her clothes. Alphys sat blushing harder than she ever had before, and then stammered:

"I-is that, what I th-think it is?"

"It is."

Alphys opened it to find an anime case with Mew Mew Kissy Cutie written in large letters across it, with Limited Edition in smaller letters.

"It was really hard to find, but it was worth it. I was going to give it you when we got home, but this seemed like a good enough place."

They hugged for awhile before remembering that everyone else was there, and both sheepishly apologized before the Bowling Alley man chimed in, a huge grin on his face, with,

"You love Mew Mew Kissy Cutie, too!? Everyone I know makes fun of me, I have to keep hiding it!" As he pulled a medallion with a cat person emblazoned on the front out of his pocket. He came over and Undyne, Alphys, and him quietly spoke at machine-gun speeds in a corner.

"Oh yeah, and Undyne's was Nemo. Ya know, from that movie a few days ago." Alphys said before returning to the Anime Huddle.

Sans stood up and said, "Can I guess more than once?"

"Uh, sure, I guess."

"Snail is Tori and Buttercup is Asgore. By the way, good game." He smiled as he extended a hand to the King.

"Thank you, and to you as well. It's true. I did it because I'm allergic to dogs and buttercups, so I figured it would work."

Toriel didn't explain herself, she had been telling everyone snail facts for weeks and they all knew.

Toriel stood and said, "Then I will guess that Noodle was from Papyrus and Bones was from Sans."

"Oh no, my comedy is getting predictable. What a shame."

"YOU ARE CORRECT YOUR MAJESTY! I DO SO LOVE NOODLES, THEY MAKE SPAGHETTI! AS SUCH, I DEEMED IT A WORTHY NAME FOR AN ADORABLE CREATURE THAT WILL INEVITABLY BE A PART OF ALL OUR LIVES! LIKE MY SPAGHETTI, EXCEPT ALIVE! AND WE WON'T EAT IT!"

Mettaton stood as everyone struggled not to laugh at Papyrus' extreme pride at his questionable naming prowess.

"So, I chose Sparkles because I would like to use the dog to help ratings every now and then. Toriel, do you think I could borrow it sometimes and, temporarily, rename it to something flashy for the TV?"

"I don't see a problem with that. Frisk? Asriel?"

Both gave a cheerful nod

"Oh YES! CUTE ANIMALS MAKE RATINGS SKYROCKET! I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU ALL A PRIVATE SHOW SOME TIME AND AN AUTOGRAPHED CD FOR THIS! You know, when I finally get one made. Record companies fill out paperwork slow and stuff like that. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!" He said with the same flourish and poses he used on stage, probably without even realizing it.

At this moment, Frisk noticed Napstablook being dreary and depressed as usual and had an idea. He quickly whispered to Asriel, and after a moment of confusion, Asriel nodded happily with determination in both their eyes.

"Napsta, do you know who could've come up with the last name? It's so creative, poetic, and beautiful."

"Yeah, I love it, I wish everyone else voted for it."

Napstablook practically beamed and said, "Actually, I made it."

"Oh my God we're idiots! We should've known it was yours from how thoughtful it was. You're so good at so many things. How do you do it?"

"Well, I don't know, I just… do." He said with an embarrassed smile.

Asriel jumped in with, "We were listening to some of your music at home before we came here. It just… uh, makes you feel so serene, and stuff." Asriel didn't quite have the eloquence Frisk had, but the attempt was enough to make Napstablook turn away.

Frisk made eye contact with Mettaton who had oily tears in his eyes as he looked from his beloved cousin to Frisk with a smile and mouthed a very grateful thank you.

"WELL, I THINK IT'S HIGH TIME WE ALL WENT HOME! THIS HAS BEEN GREAT, AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN! B-BYE METTATON!"

Frisk and Sans had a quick and confused glance between them at the clear hesitation in Papyrus' usually overly-confident voice and his very specific goodbye. They both had a sudden realization and silently agreed to talk to each other later about the fears that this small gesture stoked in both of them.

With that, the Bowling Alley guy, named Greg, exchanged phone numbers with Undyne and Alphys, and everyone left the way they came. Frisk and Asriel immediately began to train Brownie to recognize his name using treats and before long, he knew his name by heart. Then they were tucked in after a productive and entertaining day.


	8. A Fair Quick Warning

This is the author, Logan Chase. Hi again. I, like many Undertale Fans, have ships that I enjoy. I like the pairing of Mettaton and Papyrus and I ship Sans and Toriel REALLY hard. I may incorporate these later, I'm debating, as each has infinite comedic possibilities in their own write. (Get it?) Just wanted to warn those of you that may not like these pairings that things could theoretically get lovey-dovey in the future. With that out of the way, on to a story about the Great Papyrus, mostly!


	9. Magic in the Air

Asriel and Frisk were in their pajamas in front of the TV early one morning in the month of May, watching a Spongebob Squarepants rerun, a show they both deeply loved, eating muffins when the phone rang. Toriel wasn't awake yet, so Frisk got it.

"Uh, Dreemurr residence."

"Kiddo, you gotta get over here and help me fast."

Frisk was startled at the urgency in Sans' voice. "What's wrong?"

"Can't talk, grab Asriel if you want and get over here."

"Be there soon." They hung the phone back up

"What's wrong?"

"Sans needs our help."

"Then what are we waiting for!? Let's go!"

They changed as fast as possible and popped their head into Toriel's room.

"Mom!" they both yelled

"What, what!?" As she flung up in terror of her children in her doorway with such urgency.

"Sans said he needed our help, we'll be back."

"Do you need me?"

"He said just us."

"Okay. Be safe."

As they ran away, Toriel called after them, "Call me!"

They didn't hear her as they rushed out the door and opened the door to the house next door. Inside, Sans shot off the couch and his eyes turned blue as he lifted them both off the ground.

"Hey, what are you-"

"Listen kid, Papyrus got interested in Human Magic a couple of days ago and he's gone mad. I can't listen to one more minute of it and I need you two to keep him for awhile. I promise I'll pay you back big time for this. Imma get a hot dog. Bye!"

As he slipped out the room, Frisk yelled, "I hate you Sans!"

Sans stopped mid-doorway and immediately looked hurt. Frisk tried quickly to find the right words to apologize, but before he could Sans was already smiling again and cheerfully said, "No you don't," before leaving. Immediately after, a banging was heard coming from upstairs.

"HELLO!? WHO GOES THERE!? ARE YOU PREPARED FOR-" Papyrus, in a fancy suit and bow tie, with a top hat on his head and cane in his hand, turned the corner facing the stairs.

"- THE MAGNIFICENT PAPYRUS!?"

Frisk and Asriel realized that they had just been played, but they didn't understand what Sans was talking about. This seemed like it was going to be loads of fun with possibly the coolest guy they knew. They both sat down on the coach, looked into each other's eyes, put on a big smile, and then shouted, "Yes!"

"THEN WE SHALL BEGIN WITH A CARD TRICK!"

It then occurred to them that perhaps the reason that Sans couldn't stand to watch was because Papyrus wasn't particularly good at Human Magic. As he attempted to pull a deck of cards out of his sleeve with a flourish, they fall clumsily to the ground and as he bent down to pick them up he said,

"WELL, THAT WASN'T WHAT I EXPECTED. UH, GIVE THE MAGNIFICENT PAPYRUS A MOMENT."

Frisk and Asriel looked between them and worry showed on both of their faces.

"FRISK, PICK A CARD, ANY CARD!" Papyrus exclaimed once he regained control of his cards. Frisk chose a card near the middle. "TAKE A MOMENT TO MEMORIZE THAT CARD! THEN PLACE IT IN A DIFFERENT SPOT THAN THE ONE IT WAS TAKEN FROM!" Frisk did as he was told and remembered his card was the 3 of Hearts.

"NOW, WITH A DASH OF HUMAN MAGIC, THE CARD COMES TO MY HAND!" Papyrus picked a card from the opposite side of where Frisk had placed the card back.

"IS, THIS YOUR CARD!?" Papyrus produced the 10 of Spades. Frisk couldn't think of whether to lie or to tell the truth, and in a panic yelled,

"We need to go to the bathroom! Asriel and I."

"No I don't, I went before we le- oh." As Frisk gestured angrily at him and he got the hint.

"HMM, AN ODD CHOICE OF OPPORTUNITIES TO PERFORM YOUR BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS. HOWEVER, THE MAGNIFICENT PAPYRUS WILL ALLOW IT! HURRY BACK!"

The two children retreated up the stairs to the bathroom. Frisk began the conversation:

"Okay, we need to work on signals for each other, because I'm clearly more adept at communicating through gestures and tone than you are. To be fair though, I am quite experienced, after all."

"Sorry I don't pick up signals well when I spent the past eternity being a FLOWER with no compassion or kindness. You lose a little bit of your body language and sign language skills when you barely have a body and NO HANDS!"

They both laughed for a bit at what was said and the ridiculousness of their past and current situations.

"So, do we lie to him and keep him happy, or do we tell him the truth but break his heart?"

"Well, I once told Undyne that Anime is real and she believes that to this day and she's fine. I think we can convince him his magic is working."

"But what if that encourages him to keep doing it? We'll be stuck with it forever."

"Aw, you know Papyrus, it's a phase, he'll get bored of it soon."

"I'm sure Sans thought that spaghetti and cooking were a phase too. He still has yet to make anything that wasn't spaghetti and was edible."

"But maybe he will learn soon with a better teacher." They both thought of Undyne and her stellar cooking skills. Frisk continued, "Maybe he is skilled and just hasn't had a chance to show it."

"Ok, we'll lie to him, but the consequences are on you."

"I believe in him. I'll take the risk."

"AUDIENCE, YOU'VE BEEN IN THERE A LONG TIME! IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT!?"

"Coming!"

They rushed down the stairs and resumed their seats on the couch.

"EXCELLENT! NOW, IS THIS YOUR CARD!?"

Frisk feigned a gasp and Asriel feigned surprise, both with perfect acting (They sometimes acted out events and did impersonations in the woods, perfecting their drama skills. They both intended to join a youth theater club in the summer, starting next month)

"It is! Amazing!"

"NEIGH, IT IS… MAGNIFICENT! NYEH HEH HEH!"

After that, Papyrus asked Frisk, "IS YOUR NOSE RUNNING?"

"Uh, I guess."

"THEN YOU COULD USE- THIS!"

Papyrus began pulling a multi-colored handkerchief out of his sleeve, but more were linked to it and it seemed like an infinite stream. Things were going well, and the children didn't have to fake their enjoyment of seeing the tall skeleton laughing his unique laugh pulling on colorful fabric. However, the cloth stopped coming after a bit and Papyrus' laugh disappeared.

"OH. UH, THAT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO STOP YET. HOLD ON"

Papyrus turned around and seemed to be taking off his shirt.

"AH HA! THAT'S THE PROBLEM!"

Papyrus' hands moved some more and the children figured out that the end of the handkerchief train had gotten caught in one of his ribs. He fixed the problem, replaced his fancy clothes, and turned around.

"NOW THEN, WHO WOULD LIKE TO SEE OUR, AHEM, BELOVED PET DISAPPEAR!?"

The annoying dog, who as far as the kids knew had no name other than that, came around the hall, trotting happily. Papyrus picked up the dog, and set him on a table. Papyrus covered the table with a white cloth. Once again, he exclaimed:

"NOW, WITH A DASH OF HUMAN MAGIC, DISAPPEAR!"

The cloth was absorbed by the dog, evidently through its skin. Papyrus looked positively mortified before composing himself and stammering:

"I, UH, MEANT TO DO THAT! NOTICE, I DID NOT MENTION WHAT I WOULD MAKE DISAPPEAR WHEN CASTING MY MAGIC! NOW, HOWEVER," Papyrus had a severe edge of anger to his voice as he spoke the next words, "THE DOG BETTER DISAPPEAR OR IT WILL REGRET IT! PLEASE, AUDIENCE, CLOSE YOUR EYES FOR A MOMENT!"

Papyrus' loyal audience did as they were told and when they opened them again, the dog was gone.

"NYEH HEH HEH, MAGNIFICENT!"

Just then, there was a light growling sound and loud clacks as Papyrus looked very uncomfortable.

"EXCUSE ME."

Once again, The Magnificent Papyrus turned around, removed his shirt, whispered very stern words to his ribs, and turned around. However, in his anger, he must've forgotten to replace his clothes. The children could clearly see the dog, inside Papyrus' ribs like they were a cage, gently chewing on of the lowest ones. The dog realized he was caught and leaped out of Papyrus, fleeing down the hall he came from. Papyrus fumed for a time before replacing his clothes.

"I-I I BELIEVE I'M DONE NOW. THAT WAS MY LAST TRICK, *SNIFF* THE MOST DISASTROUS OF THEM ALL!" Papyrus dropped to his knees sobbing and began repeatedly chanting, "I AM NOT WORTHY OF HUMAN MAGIC!" Frisk and Asriel bolted to his side saying words of encouragement.

"Hey buddy it's alr-"

"You did great out the-"

"You're so cool Pap-"

"You can improve with ti-"

The encouragement seemed to intensify his cries.

"We had fun." Asriel said.

Papyrus stopped crying abruptly. "YOU DID?" He asked in a gentle and unstable voice. They looked to each other for what felt like the dozenth time today, nodded, and said, "Of course!"

Frisk chimed in with, "We had a great time watching you perform."

"WELL, TH-THEN. I GUESS THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS, RIGHT? MAGIC IS ABOUT PERFORMANCE, AND IF YOU BOTH ENJOYED MY PERFORMANCE, THEN THE MAGNIFICENT PAPYRUS NOT ONLY SUCCEEDED… HE EXCELLED!" Papyrus was once again flush with confidence and triumph. The two of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"THANK YOU, AUDIENCE, FOR BEING SO WONDERFUL TO ME. YOU'VE BOTH EARNED A THANKFUL FRIENDSHIP HUG!" Papyrus took them in his arms and they beamed at the good work they had done.

At that moment, the door opened and Mettaton's metallic voice said, "Oh, the door is just open."

Frisk and Asriel quickly realized that Sans had not in fact locked the door, and they could've left at any time. As they recalled Sans' betrayal and plotted ways to make him pay them back, Mettaton rang out with a cheerful,

"Papyrus, darling, you look dashing in that outfit!"

Papyrus stood up, looking shy before saying, "Y-YOU THINK SO?"

"Honey I know it. What are you doing?"

"WELL, I WAS PERFORMING FOR -"

"YOU'RE DOING A PERFORMANCE!? Of what, you handsome bag of bones?

"WELL UH, HUMAN MAGIC."

"Human magic? What's that? I thought they couldn't do magic."

Frisk responded with, "Well, we can't, but we can pretend to have magic using tricks and stuff. It's really cool."

"Well, I guess Papyrus here will have to come over to my house for a show. Anyway, I came to ask if you had any sugar we can borrow?"

"O-OH, OF COURSE. TAKE ALL YOU NEED. WE DON'T USE IT BECAUSE IT'S NOT VERY GOOD ON SPAGHETTI. WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN THAT PERFORMANCE RIGHT NOW?"

"Well, Blook- I mean, Napstablook, and I are busy right now working on our upcoming album, but I promise to watch you sometime soon. Oh, thank you darling," He said as Frisk brought the jar containing the house's sugar.

"Bye Papyrus."

"BYE METTATON! HAVE FUN! SEND NAPSTABLOOK MY REGARDS!"

Papyrus told the children he'd be right back, went upstairs, and a few minutes later came down, wearing his battle armor, but still carrying his cane and wearing his hat. He put away his magic stuff saying, "I'LL PRACTICE MORE AND GET BETTER WITH TIME. RIGHT NOW, LET'S WATCH A MOVIE!" The children cheered and from his stack of borrowed movies humans recommended to him, he chose one with an interesting cover. It had laser guns and weird monsters, and swords made of lasers. It was called Star Wars: A New Hope and they watched it through to the end. They enjoyed it and Papyrus told them that there were two more in this trilogy, a prequel trilogy and a new one in theaters.

"OH! I HAVE A MAGNIFICENT IDEA! WE SHOULD WATCH THE REST TODAY AND TOMORROW, AND THEN GO TO THE THEATER TO SEE THE NEW ONE. I HEARD IT'S VERY GOOD." The children liked the idea, and nestled into the couch, leaning on Papyrus as they watched the next in the series. However, they were so comfortable that soon all of them were sleeping. Sans came back around 6 to a TV playing static and the quiet "Nyeh!" of his brother sleeping. He smiled at those he considered his family before gently waking them up, quietly thanking the kids, and telling them to go home. They couldn't sleep yet, considering they had just been doing that for hours, so they borrowed the middle movie and brought it home to watch before sleeping. After the movie, they settled themselves in their beds at the Dreemurr household and slept.


	10. The Vultures

It had never occurred to Frisk that the appearance of monsters would not only be a big deal to monsters, but to Humans as well. They also failed to account for the fact that the nearby city would not be the only people interested in these new developments.

It had taken the Skeleton brothers (For Sans caught up himself and watched the rest with them) and the Dreemurr family two days to watch the rest of the movies and see the one in theaters. They all enjoyed the movies, though they found the prequel ones to be very boring at times. The day after, Frisk and Asriel decided to go to the woods. It wasn't long before they both wielded sticks and carefully choreographed a dramatic fight scene, an impressive stunt show with rolls and even a cartwheel from Asriel. When they showed up at home around noon for lunch, they were surprised to see multiple vans with logos painted all over them in front of their house and every house on the street. The children thought everyone was in trouble and ran to their porch before seeing all the cameras and microphones. Some of them immediately centered on them and a young man with brown hair sprang towards them and asked,

"Excuse me, do you two live here?"

"Yes, with our mom."

The reporter laughed gently before replying, "Excuse me, but, mom?"

Frisk, slightly annoyed said, "Yes, my mother and his, now if you'll excuse us, we have sandwiches awaiting us."

"Actually, we were wondering if you two wonderful children could possibly convince her to come out and talk to us. We were informed her name is- uh," He quickly checked a clipboard before finishing the sentence, "Toriel Dreemurr. She hasn't responded to our knocks and we would like to interview her."

They looked at each other questioningly before Asriel said, "Could you excuse us a moment?"

"Of course."

The children stepped back and began to whisper to each other. Asriel began with,

"What do you think?"

"Well, what's the harm in asking, if she doesn't want to, she won't, but maybe she will."

"Yeah, sounds good." The children returned and agreed to ask and the reporter beamed and thanked them all the way up the steps.

"Mom!?"

"In here!" she called back from the kitchen.

They walked over and waited for her to finish pulling out a Cinnamon pie before asking.

"Mom, are you aware that there are weird people outside our door?"

Toriel chuckled and said "They're not weird, they're just people from news networks, the news of monsters was just a rumour but now they've confirmed it. We might have to deal with paparazzi and popularity, not all of it wanted, for a couple of weeks, but then it will die down."

Asriel smiled, barely holding in laughter as he said, "I don't know Mom, that guy talking to us was pretty creepy, I think Frisk was right."

They all had a good laugh and Toriel responded with, "Well maybe he is creepy, but we still need to be polite and respectful as we would be to anyone else. Go tell him I'll be there in a minute."

The children told the man and he thanked them both and shook their hands.

Soon after, Toriel came out in her usual garb with the Cinnamon pie.

"I apologize, I was inside making a pie when you knocked and couldn't respond. Would you like some?"

"Oh, uh… No thanks, Miss Dreemurr." The reporter seemed shocked at the civilized and exceedingly kind nature of his interviewee.

"Now then, what would you like to ask me?"

"How was life in the, "Underground," as we've heard it called?"

"Life was good. Personally, I lived in a part of the Underground called the Ruins. I lived in a house about the size of this one, alone. I enjoyed reading, cooking, and uh, well there was an odd ritual where my neighbour Sans and I would tell jokes through the door that divided our lands. We didn't know each other's names back then."

"Sort of like a Pen-pal, only through words?"

"Yes, that's a good way to describe it."

"And what happened next?"

"Well, I also checked the Underground for human chil-"

Asgore walked around the corner, and suddenly panic gripped his face, he then ran to them and interrupted with,

"Sorry, interview over, must talk with her privately. Come back to finish in about an hour."

"Asgore, what are you doing here?" She said with increasing anger, each syllable slower than the last.

"All right," the reporter said confused and curious at this development. "Are you, King Asgore Dreemurr of the Underground?"

"I am."

"Could I get an interview with you, as well?"

"Of course, but first I must speak with Toriel and allow her to finish."

"Alright Mr. Dreemurr. Wait a minute, wait a minute," He said enthusiastically, with an evident idea in mind. "Are you two related in anyway?"

"We're marri-"

"We **were** married."

"Right." Asgore looked down in sadness and the reporter extended his apologies for the intrusion and separated to give them space.

Frisk noticed that while he was busy watching this, Asriel had turned away. They turned around to find their best friend on the verge of tears from seeing his parents at such bitter odds. Frisk comforted Asriel, saying it would be alright and giving him a hug that was all too familiar, the one he had done dozens of times to the poor goat child without a soul. When Asriel's sadness was spent, the friends held hands and turned back to find Toriel and Asgore waiting near them. It was evident that they had seen what had happened and agreed to temporarily tolerate each other for the sake of their child.

"My children, your… Father- has something to say to both of you."

"The Human authorities are unaware of the human SOULs we had to gather to destroy the barrier. It was so long ago that they do not remember the spells, so we lied that only one was necessary, yours, Frisk. They must never know of the six children we killed to escape. Every monster has been informed now. We must keep our lips shut, and try to avoid how we got out. The future of Humans and Monsters depends on it. Goodbye for now, children." He bent down and gave them both a loving hug, especially Asriel. He turned to Toriel and after an expectant look, she sighed and relinquished him a hug.

They all grasped how serious this was, the murder of six children would surely reignite war and possibly lead to the end of Monsters. As they pondered this serious subject, the reporter returned and asked if Toriel was willing to continue and she complied. Just then, a yell was heard.

"COME ON MAN, I JUST WANT A PICTURE! A SHORT VIDEO!? A QUOTE!? YOU GOTTA GIVE ME SOMETHING, MAN!" The pleas were coming from around the Bone Zone as they now called the Skeleton house, and the children rushed to see what was happening. Outside, a camera was impaled by multiple bones that came from the ground. Frisk knew of Sans' insane power because he once asked him to show him, as he thought it would be fun. They had a few sessions where Sans would throw everything at him and Frisk had to survive. It was fun and gave them both some physical activity. Asriel however had experienced it back when he was a flower, and he shuddered at the thought of all the pain he went through, glad he was now on Sans' side. Sans' most effective move, his blue attack, wouldn't work because the camera didn't have a soul, but a Gaster blaster or a bone or two would take care of it. Evidently, Sans did not approve of the news trying to take pictures of him.

They both ran over and found Sans smiling on the other side of a window and a teenager, probably around 17, with pimples and a long curtain of hair over his face staring back in anger. Sans saw the children and waved.

"Wait, you know that dude?"

"Yeah, he's a good friend of ours."

"Hey man, can you ask him to stop breaking our stuff? He doesn't trust us to not take footage when he's not looking and we can't even cross his yard without something happening. He's broken, like, 4 cameras."

"I'll see if I can get him to stop. Come to think of it, maybe I can do you one better." Frisk leaned in and whispered to the teen as his eyes widened at what he was hearing. Asriel was curious, but couldn't hear what they were saying, so he looked to Sans and saw him looking at them too, with a curious smile. Soon after, Frisk gestured Asriel to follow him and went inside the house.

"Kiddo, I don't know what you're planning but whatever it is, keep me out of it."

"Hear me out, Sans. We want the humans to like the monsters, and destruction of property doesn't help. We want to give a positive image, and what better than a monster playing with a human and monster kid at the same time?"

"*sigh* I'm listening."

Frisk whispered in his ear this time and he replied with, "No, no, absolutely not, your mother would kill me if I put you in danger like that."

"Cooome ooon, Sans." They said in a whiny voice with puppy dog eyes. "It could be fun."

"Remember last time?"

Frisk vaguely recalled an incident during the last of their training sessions, Frisk didn't dodge fast enough and took a Gaster blaster to the face. Sans was chastised terribly for hurting him and felt awful, despite Frisk's insistence that it wasn't his fault and he was fine.

"I'm still here, right? And there's a save point right upstairs just in case. I can reset if anything goes wrong, everything will be the same."

Sans looked unsure, but finally agreed, Frisk cheered, gave him a hug and explained the plan to Asriel.

The kids ran outside and made a quick stop in the woods before returning to the kid.

"What'd he say?"

"He's in."

"Great, I'll get the camera rolling."

Just then, Sans walked outside while stretching his bones. He stood a distance from the camera and spoke loudly, saying

"Uh, hi. My name is Sans. I'm a skeleton, and these two goofballs here," Pulling Asriel and Frisk into a hug, "want you to see that monsters and humans can make cool stuff together. Uh, here we go, kids." A wall of bones appeared in front of them as they both brandished a stick in their hands.

"Ready?"

They both nodded.

The bones came at break-neck speeds, but the kids both dodged or blocked with their sticks, imitating the choreography they practiced in the woods. Soon, Gaster blasters appeared and the children threw the sticks at them and they disappeared. They did more elaborate dodging as bones appeared all around, before they were both lifted into mid-air as Sans raised his arm, controlling both of them. He flung them through the air and they did majestic dancing as they floated through the air, Sans being careful to never let them touch the floor. He even set up rings of bones for them to pass through. Eventually, they were put down and Frisk did a roll while Asriel cartwheeled until the children stood in front of Sans with smiles on their faces. After their performance ended without a hitch, they all cheered and hugged while yelling things like, "That was awesome!" or, "It worked!" before Sans chimed in with, "I'm bone tired now. If I had a heart it would be beating out of my chest. Anyway, I, Sans the skeleton, want to say hi to all you Humans out there and say it's a pleasure to meet ya. Monsters mean you no harm and we're happy to live amongst ya. Bye."

The camera teenager was awestruck, mouth agape, and eventually said, "We got it all. Man, that was the best thing I've ever seen."

"I liked it too."

The four of them turned to face a smiling Toriel, with her arms crossed. Sans opened his mouth to apologize, but Toriel placed a hand up and stopped him.

"I mean it, I loved it, it was so majestic to see my lovely children fly through the air with such grace. The sticks were a good idea, so they always have something to keep them safe. Might I recommend body armor next time to guarantee their safety?"

Before Sans could stammer out an answer, Frisk interrupted with, "Next time?"

"Well I assume you'll want to do this again at least a few times, maybe in front of the humans at the city to let them know. You guys could practice it and make it look even nicer, maybe you could open for Mettaton one of these days. There's loads of possibilities if that's what you want. It was certainly something you enjoyed, so why not continue to do it?"

The three of them looked between themselves, then all beamed at Toriel before Sans quickly used his magic to send them flying to their mother. She squealed in surprise and was tackled by her children, left on the ground with all three of them laughing hysterically. Sans noticed the cameraman filming but decided against destroying the camera. If they were fine with being exposed, then so was he.

The 4 of them had a nice lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, made by Toriel, inside the Bone Zone. Over the meal, Sans explained that Papyrus was scheduled to talk on live national TV to be the first monster to talk to the world at large, alongside Asgore. He had been at the studio all morning, nervously fretting about his performance and pacing, telling himself he was great, trying to hype himself up. The broadcast would start at 5, and it was now nearly 2:30.

"Hey," Frisk began as he put his bowl in the sink, "Has anyone heard from Mettaton? I bet he's ecstatic about this whole situation. He can have all the attention he wants."

"I don't think that every news network on Earth could fill Mettaton's desire for attention." Joked Sans.

"But Papyrus might be able to." Frisk smiled as Sans choked on his food.

"I forgot, I need to talk to you about that. You went on a date with Papyrus once, and it failed, what do we need Mettaton to do so he fails him too?"

Both goat people in the house exclaimed, "You went on a date with Papyrus!?"

Asriel began laughing hysterically while Toriel looked shocked.

Frisk began blushing furiously as they said, "Yeah, I thought it would prevent me from getting killed or captured, and it did."

Sans said, "Back to the task at hand. Who wants to see Papyrus macking with Mettaton?"

Asriel responded with, "What's macking?"

Frisk leaned over and whispered an explanation into his ear and Asriel immediately called out, "Eew!"

"So that's one vote against it. Frisk?"

"I think if they want to be happy together, let them try."

"That's one vote for it. Tori?"

"I'm with Frisk."

"And I'm with Asriel. We're at a dead tie."

"So," Toriel reasoned, "This means we neither help nor hinder their efforts, if they show up."

"Agreed." Came from the other 3s' mouth as they nodded firmly.

Toriel and Sans turned on the TV as they sat on the couch, while Frisk and Asriel prepared a game of chess on the floor. Mettaton came onto the TV, doing elaborate poses in between complex dance moves.

"Speak of the devil in spandex and he shall appear."

Everyone chuckled at Sans' joke and he looked proud. They began to listen and it was evident that Mettaton was discussing his newly signed record deal and his upcoming album which was now confirmed and would be titled "Death by Glamour." Soon after, Grillby was shown on the news, he quietly mentioned he would be opening a new restaurant and then left the screen just as fast as he showed up. Sans leaped out of his seat with joy and everyone joined him in holding hands and happily skipping in a circle, like Ring around the Rosey but without the song. Eventually it ended, the children returned to their game and Sans retrieved a ketchup bottle from the refrigerator, one of dozens. It was evident that all the testimonies were pre-recorded and the entirety of the news channel was dedicated to re-runs of the monster testimonies, every scrap of new monster footage they could muster, sometimes interrupted by boring looking Humans discussing economic, political, and social impacts, among other things. After an hour and a half, Sans was preparing to change the channel to the specific news station that Papyrus would be on in an hour, when the screen showed a close up of Sans. He stopped, the remote still in his hands and the children squealed with excitement knowing their performance was next.

The camera stayed tight on Sans' face during the introduction, where he spoke, then zoomed out a bit when the skeleton hugged the children. Toriel let out a small, "Aww," before they moved away and prepared for battle. The news station had added a song over it, but it sounded cool with heavy synthesizer, guitar, and drums. They liked it and resolved to look it up when they were done watching. The bones came fast and hard, but the children were agile and knew when it was better to block than try to dodge. They clapped at the part where the Gaster blasters appeared and were immediately destroyed by the children's' projectiles, exploding in a cool puff of ash. Finally, they got to see the finale of them flying through the air, doing twirls, flips, and occasionally going through rings set up by Sans. It ended when Sans spoke, not including the cameraman's comment or Toriel. However, the next piece of footage was Frisk, Toriel, and Asriel happily laughing while rolling in the Spring grass. They then went on to a Vegetoid who fed the entire news crew. Everyone thought they looked awesome and had celebratory pie, and it was ready 3 minutes to 5. The news station began introducing the concept of long-forgotten monsters returning, a concept they had talked about nonstop all day, as they ate their pie. Then, the news man said,

"We have two very special guests talking with me today, we have the King of the Underground, Asgore Dreemurr, and the captain of his Royal Guard, his former police force, Papyrus the skeleton." Applause came from the screen and the couch as they all cheered for their beloved friends. Asgore began,

"Thank you, Tom, it's an honor to be here."

"I AGREE! HELLO, HUMAN WORLD!"

"Ha ha, the human world says "Hi" back, bud." At the bottom of the screen, ticker tape was showing various tweets about the event, some calling this a historic event, but many more just noticing how cute Papyrus was.

"So, Papyrus, how was life Underground?"

"OH, IT WAS WONDERFUL! I LIVED WITH MY BROTHER SANS IN A HOUSE IN A CITY WHERE IT PERPETUALLY SNOWED! NOW I LIVE WITH HIM IN A HOUSE ON THE SURFACE, AND I CAN'T WAIT TO EXPERIENCE CHANGES IN WEATHER, LIKE RAIN, OR FOG. ALSO, I LOVE THE SUN, IT'S WONDERFUL. OTHER THAN THAT, AND ALL THE HUMAN INVENTIONS WE DIDN'T HAVE, LIFE ISN'T ALL THAT DIFFERENT."

"What inventions didn't you have?"

"WELL, THINGS LIKE DIFFERENT KINDS OF PASTA, WE ONLY HAD SPAGHETTI DOWN THERE, AND, A THEATER. WE HAD MOST OF THE THINGS HUMANS HAD THROUGH TRASH."

"Trash?"

"YES, TRASH FELL INTO OUR WORLD AND WE WOULD REVERSE-ENGINEER TECHNOLOGY LIKE PHONES FROM IT, OR TAKE INSPIRATION FROM IT, LIKE IN OUR LARGE HOTEL RESORTS."

"Fascinating. Would you like to say anything, Mr. Dreemurr?"

"Oh, uh, yes. I wanted to thank the human world for accepting us so readily. Our welcome has been a warm one and I'm thankful for all the support we've had in our endeavors. We look forward to a bright future with humanity."

"BRIGHT LIKE THE SUN! NYEH HEH HEH!"

"Fantastic. Now, we have just one question left for you tonight. How did you all get out?"

Asgore began, saying, "Well, thousands of years ago, when the Humans first banished us to the Underground after a short and bloody war, they locked us there with a magical barrier. You humans used to have some magical capacity and used it to seal us behind a barrier that could only be broken by a Human standing in front of the barrier and willing it to fall."

"AND FRISK THE HUMAN SAVED US ALL!" Papyrus then quickly shut his mouth, realizing what he had done. Sans, Toriel, and Frisk all facepalmed and said, "Oh no."

"Uh, Frisk. Who's Frisk?"

"UH, NO ONE, NO ONE AT ALL!"

"Come on Papyrus, it's rude to lie on national TV."

"Papyrus don't do it." Sans pleaded.

"*sigh* FINE. FRISK IS A HUMAN CHILD THAT FELL INTO THE UNDERGROUND. THEY WENT THROUGH, BEFRIENDING EVERY MONSTER THEY CAME ACROSS AND EVENTUALLY RELEASED US. PLEASE DON'T BOTHER THEM, THE HUMAN IS VERY SHY."

It was true. Frisk, though they may have talked more, that was only to people they knew and they were still very shy around people and especially in crowds. When in a crowded place, Frisk grabbed the hand of whoever was nearby, Asriel, Toriel, Sans, and sometimes was carried by the Great Papyrus.

"Don't worry buddy, we're the news, we promise to give them their due privacy. Anyways, that's all the time we have tonight. Thank you to both our guests."

Papyrus once again pleaded, "PLEASE DON'T BOTHER THEM. I'M SO SORRY, FRISK."

No one believed Tom the smiling news anchor, and Frisk slept the night away expecting his promise to be forgotten come morning. They would not be disappointed.


	11. Worse than Paparazzi

Frisk and Asriel slept soundly that night, but sometime early in the morning, they woke up to noises outside. They expected the worse, sitting up in their beds, but instead a tall skeleton burst through the door.

"FRISK, I'M SO SORRY, I MADE TERRIBLE MISTAKES!" Papyrus wept.

"It's okay Papyrus, we all make mistakes, we'll deal. Besides, it can't be that bad."

It could totally be that bad, thought Frisk, but they certainly wouldn't tell Papyrus that. They looked at the clock and saw it was 2:37.

"I WANTED TO COME SAY SORRY YESTERDAY, BUT SANS TOLD ME TO WAIT UNTIL TODAY. I WANTED TO COME AS SOON AS IT BECAME TODAY, BUT I, UH, FELL ASLEEP. BUT I WOKE UP AGAIN AND RAN OVER HERE."

Toriel showed up in the doorway, surprisingly calm for a home invasion.

"Papyrus, go home, We can all talk about this tom- later today. Over breakfast. Tell Sans to come over at 9 and we'll talk about it over the meal and make a plan if we need to."

"YES, YOUR MAJESTY." Papyrus did a sort of bow before leaving.

Toriel said goodnight to her children once again and they slept for another 4 and half hours. Then they woke up, all three of them, and went to the living room. Toriel made herself coffee, she had recently taken a liking to it, thought it was just as much milk, cream, and, sugar as coffee. She had heard it could stunt the growth of children and as such vehemently refused to let the children drink it. However, on this day, she made an exception and poured 3 cups of beige colored coffee.

By the time Papyrus and Sans knocked on the door, the children were comfortable, if not jittery, and sitting on the couch next to Toriel with Brownie. Toriel rose to open the door, and Brownie accompanied her, barking all the way. When the door opened, Brownie looked expectantly at the skeletons, evidently believing that his favorite chew toys would simply lie down and take it.

"MAY I CONTINUE MY APOLOGY, YOUR HIGHNESS?"

She had a slight smile as she said, "You may."

"Can you at least wait until we enter before starting?" Sans asked, while fending off the vicious dog with a summoned bone he soon threw into the room as a distraction.

"NO, I AM NOT WORTHY OF ENTRY UNTIL I HAVE APOLOGIZED!"

Sans sighed as he leaned against the doorway waiting for his brother to finish.

"FRISK, I WANT TO APOLOGIZE… BUT I WILL NOT!"

Everyone whipped their heads around to look shocked at Papyrus, including Toriel and Sans, who were preparing to sit together and tell jokes while they waited for the expected speech. Frisk and Asriel waited with expectation.

" I WAS THINKING IN THE TIME BETWEEN MY BREAK IN AND NOW, AND I REALIZED SOMETHING. BEING SHY WILL NOT GET YOU AS FAR AS YOU DESERVE TO GO IN THIS WORLD, FRISK. YOU CERTAINLY DIDN'T SAVE THE UNDERGROUND THROUGH A SHY ATTITUDE. MATTER OF FACT, BEING BOLD, AND A LITTLE FLIRTY, IS WHAT KEPT YOU ALIVE. YOU NEED TO HAVE THE CONFIDENCE YOU HAD THEN, JUST NOW. AND, JUST LIKE I HELPED ALPHYS, IF YOU NEED IT, I WILL HELP YOU!"

Before Frisk could respond, Toriel asked, "By the way, how did you get in?"

"SIMPLE, I USED THE DOGGY DOOR."

"How?"

"I FIT MYSELF THROUGH PIECE BY PIECE. I FED BROWNIE TO KEEP HIM OCCUPIED."

Everyone looked at the dog, still wagging his tail furiously as he chewed a bone.

"Can we come in now?"

"OH, YES."

Sans and Papyrus walked in and Sans pulled up a chair next to the couch. Papyrus stood.

Toriel began. "So, we've heard Papyrus' plan-"

"NYEH HEH HEH!" He said with superiority.

"Does anyone else have an idea?"

Asriel spoke. "I think there should be a balance of Papyrus' idea and hiding. Frisk should learn to be, or at least pretend to be comfortable when asked questions and stuff like that, but not actively seek the spotlight. That way, they won't be cowering in fear and avoiding everyone they meet, but won't be overwhelmed."

"Okay. Sans, do you have an idea?"

"That depends. What do you want, kiddo?"

"Uh, I just don't want to get mauled. I'd be fine with answering questions, having pictures and stuff, but I'd still like some privacy. Be able to go play in the woods without it being on the local news."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I think Asriel has the right idea."

"Actually, I agree with Papyrus. I think Frisk should stand up to them, probably take heavy exposure for a short time, and then they'll get bored faster and it will die down."

"It's a tie, so as usual, it's up to the kid."

Frisk thought for a while, eyebrows furrowed, and then held up a finger as they said, "I got it. We can compromise between the two. I'll take Papyrus' lessons, so when they do talk to me I'll be sure to be ready, but not go out of my way to talk about. I won't avoid questions, but I won't start conversations either." Everyone agreed that that sounded good and then Papyrus said,

"I'M GLAD WE SORTED THAT OUT. NOW, I HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL ALL OF YOU. I BEGAN TAKING AN ONLINE COURSE ABOUT COOKING. I BEGAN MY FIRST LESSON EARLIER TODAY, AND LEARNED TO MAKE A NEW BREAKFAST FOOD, ONE THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE PASTA. HOLD ON!" Papyrus ran out the door, probably going to grab some of his experiments.

"I didn't even know he did this, I was still asleep. I should've known something was up when he brought home stuff like sugar and eggs yesterday. Spaghetti doesn't have that stuff. Well, at least he seems, **Egg** sited." Everyone tried to hold in their laughter, as they refused to succumb to such a cheap pun, but they all loved puns and couldn't help it. They giggled, with Toriel giggling harder than anyone, and Sans chuckled along.

"WHAT'S EVERYONE GIGGLING AT?" Papyrus asked as he entered the room with a covered container.

"Oh, nothing bro, we were just, **cracking** up about a joke." More laughter broke out, more intense than before, and Papyrus' confusion increased, but he decided to move past it.

"I PRESENT TO YOU, THE PANCAKE!" Everyone in the room was surprised by how good they looked; they actually seemed edible. Soon, everyone was sitting at the dining table, with a plate in front of them. Each member at the table looked nervously between the others, with the exception of Papyrus, who dug right in. However, he liked his spaghetti and that fluctuated between inedible to over cooked, never good enough to be classified anything above a C grade, so his taste was questionable at best. Finally, Frisk summoned their courage and ate a piece of the pancake, and was pleasantly surprised. It was a little too sweet, but they could live with that; they always did have a powerful sweet tooth. Frisk gave a smile and a discreet thumbs up to the others to signal it was safe. Asriel, Toriel, and Sans began eating, in that order. When they had finished, they actually asked for seconds.

Halfway through his second pancake, Sans suddenly stood up, his left eye lit light blue. Everyone near simultaneously asked him what was wrong in varying levels of concerned tones. He replied, "I get the feeling that something is wrong. Hold on." He walked to the living room and came back a minute later.

"Close all the shutters. They're out there watching us right now."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean they're being less conspicuous this time. They're hiding in the trees with cameras pointing at all the windows and doors."

"How do you know?"

"I, uh, took a few shortcuts all around the house and found a tent of people in the woods, watching us. They're using binoculars and stuff, and they're planning on doing something else I don't know the meaning of. It was, uh, bugging. They were talking about how they were going to bug the house. I'll look it up."

Sans walked over to the computer in the common room, a computer mostly used by the children for internet searches and playing various video games, mostly puzzle games.

While everyone did as he said, Sans privately stewed at the gall of these people and filled with anger. However, he was a patient guy, and he would wait.

"So, uh, guys. It means they plan on putting little microphones around the house to listen in on everything." Everyone reacted in a shocked manner, Papyrus being the loudest with a, "Wowie Zowey!" "I don't know who they are, but they are not reporters. Anyways, I think they want to take Frisk away." Papyrus screamed and practically fainted.

What a perfectly cynical thing to say when your brother caused this and is still very beat up about it, you crazy skeleton, thought Frisk, though his stoic face betrayed none of what he thought.

"What would make you think that, Sans?" Asked Toriel, incredulous at this accusation.

"Frisk can't leave! I care about them too much!" Asriel said, then immediately regretted it and looked embarrassed as Frisk smiled and made a mental note to torment him with jokes about it later.

"Think about it, not everyone likes us being here, and I guarantee that a lot of people can't stand the thought of a human child living with us monsters. They're trying to prove that we're inadequate as caretakers. If they succeed, they'll take Frisk because he needs proper care."

"Then I guess we'll just have to be adequate caretakers. We can do that."

Sans blushed a little as he said, "We?"

"Yeah, we all take care of them pretty well. Even Undyne. We just have to make sure they have nothing to throw in our faces. I have an idea."

Everyone waited in anticipation as she gathered her thoughts before continuing. "We can all go camping." She finally said with a cheerful tone. "It's something we haven't done yet and wanted to do, and if we can take care of them in the woods, we can certainly take care of them anywhere else." It was true that Frisk and Asriel had wanted to spend time in the woods, they had asked about a weeklong vacation for some time.

"OH YAY! WHEN DO WE GET TO ENJOY THE GIFTS OF NATURE!?" Papyrus yelled as he suddenly sat upright again.

"First, let's call everyone and see when they're free. Then we'll drive over to the nearby campgrounds, and have lots of fun. We'll sleep under the stars, hike through the woods, play in the river, and roast hot dogs over an open fire." Sans particularly brightened at the last one, while the children liked the stars and river the best. "Yeah, okay. Sounds like a good plan to me. It keeps Frisk away from most people and after a week, maybe this whole thing will have died down. Not the monsters thing, we'll probably be bothered for significantly longer, but hopefully they'll move past that goofball right there. If not, it's just having good fun and dunking those nosy jerks in the face."

"I'll start calling. Children, can you clean up the table?" After a barrage of phone calls and eventual texting as it was faster, everyone agreed to meet at the camp grounds in three days. The only people they knew that wouldn't show was Monster Kid, as his parents were afraid of the humans and were going to become hermits for a time, and Asgore as he was too busy dealing with things. He claimed to be more stressed now than he ever was before and jokingly claimed he wished that Frisk hadn't broken the barrier.

Sans called Frisk over to a chair he was sitting at, and said, "Okay kiddo, we'll be out of here soon and then the spotlight won't last. Don't you worry about it, and you may not even have to use the plan we discussed, if we're lucky. You just be the perfect little goofball you are for 3 days and then we should be fine. Deal?" Frisk smiled and slyly asked, "You promise?" Sans' smile turned to a slight frown as he remembered the promise he made and the time he told the kid about it over dinner. He said, "That's not funny."

"It is to me! Remember when I cried after you said that? You felt so bad. Everyone was staring at you." Sans smiled and was blushing hard when he said, "Yeah, I remember, I messed up, now get out of here ya noodle."

Frisk knew the next few days before the trip would be full of surprises, most of them unpleasant. They steeled themselves for the future, and the thought of a peaceful camping trip away from prying eyes filled them with determination. As they finished their thought, Papyrus said,

"I HAVE AN IDEA TOO! I NEED MORE INGREDIENTS FOR TONIGHT'S LESSON AND I NEED TO GO TO THE STORE. WHAT'S MORE NORMAL THAN GOING TO THE STORE!? FRISK AND THE PRINCE (He almost never referred to Asriel by name, similar to how he talked to Toriel.) CAN COME WITH ME. WHAT DO YOU SAY?"

The children didn't even have to look at each other to know that this would be a very entertaining way to pass the time, and agreed immediately.

"GREAT, I'LL GRAB SOME THINGS REAL QUICK. MAKE SURE YOU'RE READY. THEN, MAYBE WHEN WE GET BACK, YOU CAN HELP WITH MY LESSON! IT'S FREE AND IT USES A WEBCAM, SO I'M SURE THEY WOULDN'T MIND ME HAVING HELP. IT'S NOT LIKE I GET GRADED FOR IT, I JUST WANT TO LEARN! NYEH HEH HEH HEH heh heh…" The laughter got quieter as he ran to his house. Toriel made the children grab sweaters just in case, despite the 78 degree weather and signs of spring all around them. It truly was a beautiful day outside, birds were singing, creeps were watching, and the family they love so dearly was being threatened with their removal. A great day indeed.


	12. Quick Heads Up

Hello again. Just wanted those of you that follow this story to be aware that school is ending pretty soon for me, like four more weeks, and with that comes a mountain of work and studying for Finals. So, this is just a fair warning that uploads may be a little slower and have more time in between them, but I'm finding time to write in between study sessions. It helps me unwind, so I think it's a good thing, but nonetheless, it might slow to a trickle for a while. On the bright side, after May 23rd or so, I should be able to write a lot more during Summer and chapters will probably start raining down on all of you. For those of you that like my stories, thank you so much, and a quick glimpse into the future: How will the government react to a child in the care of monsters, whose character is yet to be seen? Will Papyrus learn to be a talented chef with a different teacher? Will Frisk be taken away? The answers, soon. Except the last one. I'll tell you right now that's a big fat no. But CPS social workers in the area may have interesting tales to tell for years to come. Thanks, again, talk to you next time.


	13. Shopping Spree

When Papyrus came back, dressed in his suit and pants, they were ready to go. Sans came up to him and whispered in his ear before handing him something. Frisk and Asriel both saw it happen, but couldn't tell what it was.

"ALRIGHT, I THINK WE'RE READY TO GO TO THE STORE," Papyrus winked at his brother, "AND ONLY THE STORE." A double wink this time. "NO WHERE ELSE, JUST FOOD AND HOME."

The children knew this meant something, but didn't quite know what was in store. When they walked out the door, Sans and Toriel came together in the middle of the room. Toriel then said, "Sans, I'm not a bonehead like you, so what was Papyrus talking about?" After Sans composed himself from his uncontrollable laughter, he replied, "Don't worry about it, they'll be fine. The important part is, they're gonna have fun, the people will follow them, and we're going to follow the people. First, I'm going to go back and see if I can gather more information about our unwanted guests and we'll go from there." Sans walked around the corner, out of sight and then took a shortcut once more.

The CPS camp leader didn't know what to make of this situation. He was still reeling from his orders and even more from the shocking command to use bugs on such seemingly nice… well, not people, but close enough. Two weeks ago, if you told him he would no longer be investigating abusive fathers and instead would be spying on a neighborhood filled with monsters, on the President of the United States' order no less, he would've made sure that he hadn't had too much to drink that night, and then given you one because you seemed way too high strung. Yet, here he was, with military grade surveillance equipment, ordering others to get into a truck and follow a well-dressed skeleton. The President made it very clear to the department how important this was; the kid was a bridge between Monsters and Humans. If they had corrupted him, or given him Stockholm syndrome or something and the monsters weren't as trustworthy as they seemed, a national disaster could erupt. People cared a lot about children, always rambling on about them, and if these monsters had one and lived up to their name… So far though, they seemed pretty boring. They had guests over, ate pancakes, and now seemed to be going in the direction of the nearby shopping center. It didn't make any sense to him, but come to think of it, not much had since they showed up.

Papyrus hadn't a care in the world, as he sped down the road in his red convertible, loudly singing to the latest pop song. He was a little disappointed to find that driving had rules and he couldn't just drive as fast as possible, wind blowing through his bones, but he got over it. The children were far too polite to tell him his singing was dismal and sounded like nails on a chalkboard, but they could think it all they wanted, which they did. Then on the radio turned on far too loud came the radio station lady's voice,

"NEXT UP, WE HAVE A NEW SONG FROM THE RISING STAR OF THE MONSTERS, THE DARLING OF THE UNDERGROUND, METTATON!" Papyrus gasped sharply and turned the music even higher, to ear-threatening levels, though the children guessed he didn't have eardrums to break and was probably fine. Papyrus didn't know the words, or even the song, as it was new, but he tried to hum along as best he could. It was a catchy tune, with vocals by Mettaton and music that undoubtedly had a touch of Napstablook in it.

"I'm glad Mettaton is doing well." Asriel said when Papyrus decided to turn the music down after a guy flipped him off for his music being too loud.

"WELL!? HE'S DOING GREAT! PEOPLE LOVE HIM! NOT AS MUCH AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS, OF COURSE, BUT I'M SURE THAT HE'LL GET CLOSE SOMEDAY."

Frisk was just happy to be outside in the car, Frisk loved car rides, they just felt so exhilarating. Asriel didn't quite share the same sentiment, as his ears tended to hit himself. Thinking of Asriel, Frisk was reminded of something and adopted a sly smile.

"Sooo, you don't want me to go, do you?"

Asriel looked, remembered, and then adopted a very stoic face before firmly saying, "No, I don't. Because then I wouldn't have an ugly face to laugh at all the time." His tongue stuck out at Frisk, a challenge to come up with something better to respond with. Frisk smiled harder and responded, "What's that, I couldn't hear you over all that bawling you did when they said it." Before returning the gesture. "I wasn't bawling, you were! Because you were going to lose your best friend in the whole wide world and all I would lose was, uh…" Asriel stalled as he tried to think of something. After about 6 seconds, he sighed and said, "Fine, I concede. You win this round, Human." Before smiling, followed by raucous laughter from both of them. They were so distracted that they didn't even notice they had reached their destination.

"ALRIGHT CHILDREN, GRAB A CART AND PLAY ROCK PAPER SCISSORS TO FIND WHO GETS TO RIDE IN IT." The children cheered and then the game commenced. They stared into each other's very souls as they tried to guess what the other would play. Frisk played rock, and Asriel played scissors. "Darn it, why do you always win?" "Because, I can read you like a book." "No you can't, I bet…" The arguing went on, playful as it may have been, as Frisk sat in the cart and Asriel walked alongside, holding on to it. People stared at the odd family the whole time, but they did not care. In fact, they barely noticed at all. Little did they know, Sans and Toriel were also at the store, carefully watching them, and watching for people watching them.

"Hunh, they fight just like siblings do." Observed Sans.

"What do you mean?"

"They talk bad about the other, insult them, make jokes, stuff like that, but it's clear that they care deeply about each other. Reminds me of Pap and I."

Toriel was filled with pride to know that her adopted child and real one were both acting perfectly normal, even by other people's standards. The other child did that too, but they didn't mesh as well as Frisk and Asriel. Chara just always seemed, a little distant to her. Her attention to this train of thought was snapped away when Sans said, "I think that's one of 'em." "You sure?" "No, but the hat she's wearing has the same emblem."

For the dozenth time that day, a CPS social worker regretted coming to work yesterday. Yesterday, her office became a madhouse with the news that a child had been living with the still possibly dangerous monsters and she was one of the many people selected to keep an eye on them. Personally, she had no qualms about the monsters and thought the best of them; she had even already bought a Mettaton shirt. Yet here she was, wallowing in self-pity as she followed the cheerful skeleton and his lovely children. Anyways, it was time for her to stop daydreaming and get back to work. She walked to the aisle they were at, close enough to listen, (It wasn't hard, the skeleton seemed to have no volume control whatsoever.) and pretended to look at a box of stuffing.

"ANYWAYS, FRISK, I DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU WHAT I'M MAKING UNTIL WE GO HOME. I WANT IT TO BE A SURPRISE!" "But Papyrus, uh-" Frisk tried to think of a good reason why he should know, when Asriel got it. "But we can help you find ingredients, than we can go home faster and be ready for your lesson." The CPS worker made a mental note to remember the name of the skeleton. She called the investigation leader, "Jonas, it's me, Ashley. I'm near the target, do you want me to talk to them and investigate like that?" There was silence for a moment before he said, "Follow them down a few more aisles, then talk to them; prepare what you're going to say." "Got it." Ashley hung up and realized they had already left the aisle and hurried to catch up. At the corner of the aisle she just left, Sans and Toriel waited, and they heard every word. "Sans, what do we do?" "We keep watching, nothing bad has happened yet. I have a plan for if something goes wrong, though." He described the plan and she was pleased, as it would get everyone out of trouble, but cause no harm to the nearby humans.

Papyrus finally had an answer for the children, "HRRM. NO, THE ANSWER IS STILL NO." Frisk and Asriel looked at each other with scheming, almost, sadistic smiles. They thought so alike that they knew what the other was thinking and were quick to act. Asriel began to pretend to cry and throw a tantrum, very convincingly, while Frisk did the same in the cart. Suddenly, the Great Papyrus had two crying children on his hands and he began to panic.

"OH NO! UH, FRISK, PRINCE, PLEASE, BEHAVE YOURSELVES! UH, WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!? FINE, WE'RE HAVING MEATLOAF!" Both children immediately stopped their thrashing and looked confused at him. "What's meatloaf?" they both said, heads cocked slightly to the side. "IT'S AN ODD CREATION, A FAVORITE OF MANY PEOPLE HERE. YOU TAKE MEAT, LIKE FROM MEATBALLS ON SPAGHETTI, MAKE A LOAF LIKE BREAD OUT OF IT, AND THEN SPICE IT AND PUT SAUCE ON IT." Both children had never heard of anything like this and thought it weird, but were very excited to try it. The pancakes earlier suggested that Papyrus did have culinary skill and just needed a different teacher (Not Undyne) to drastically improve what he could make. They hoped it would go well.

That's when a woman, in her late twenties to early thirties walked up to their cart and said, "Excuse me, but are you that skeleton that was on the news last night?" "I AM." Papyrus said, swelling with pride. "And is that, oh, uh, shoot, Frisk? Frisk, right? That's the name you said." Papyrus deflated immediately, sighed, then said, "YES, THIS IS THE HUMAN CHILD NAMED FRISK, WHO SAVED THE UNDERGROUND." Ashley became suspicious. Why did he sound sad to say that? "Are you alright?" "YES, IT'S JUST, WELL, FRISK IS SHY AND I DIDN'T MEAN TO LET THE NAME SLIP. NOW I WORRY ABOUT ALL THE UNWANTED ATTENTION THEY'LL GET." Papyrus looked at the young child in the shopping cart, a little too big for it, now that he thought about it. Frisk smiled at Papyrus, then turned and waved at the lady. Ashley smiled and waved back and any doubts she had about the adequacy of monsters as parents vanished. This skeleton cared about this child more than most human parents cared about their own. Frisk then spoke, "This is my brother, Asriel, prince of the monsters." Ashley looked down at the goat child and practically swooned. "Hello there." "Howdy." "Anyways, I'm going to let you guys get back to your shopping. Have a great day!" Ashley said before leaving.

"HUH, THAT'S WEIRD." Papyrus mused. "What was?" Frisk asked. "SHE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A CART." The three of them looked at each other, shrugged at the same time, and laughed as they kept moving. "Tori, you alright?" Sans was asking the question to a Toriel that had her back turned away, seemingly wiping tears from her eyes. "I'm fine, just filled with motherly pride at how cute they are." She exhaled sharply, regaining her wits, then said, "Okay, now what?" "Well, now we, oh hell." As the happy trio was grabbing the last of their groceries, many people noticed the skeleton and the child he had. About a dozen people crowded them and they couldn't hope to answer all the questions fast enough. Sans quietly said the go code for their secret plan: "Smoke on the water." Toriel discreetly made a fireball in her hand and positioned herself under a fire detector. Soon, the smoke wafted up and caused the sprinklers to go. Sans took her hand and led her through a shortcut so the people watching Papyrus wouldn't see them leave, and they appeared in Toriel's second car, ready to follow again. Everyone in the store left in an orderly fashion, except Papyrus and the children who stayed behind. None of them knew what a fire alarm was like and didn't even consider that they could be in danger. Frisk got out of the seat and the two children played in the sprinklers, pretending it was rain, whereas Papyrus was determined to buy the ingredients he needed. They waited for a couple minutes, until the system was shut off and the management was sure there was no fire. Then, they helped Papyrus and after checking out, the three of them got back into the car.

"NOW CHILDREN, I WASN'T ENTIRELY HONEST WITH YOU WHEN I SAID WHERE WERE WE GOING." The children prepared themselves for the answer to the questions they had earlier about what all the secrecy meant. "INSTEAD OF GOING HOME, WE'RE GOING TO GO GET SOME ICE CREAM!" Both children cheered, as they loved ice cream, even more than nice cream. Though nice cream made you feel good, it didn't have quite the same taste. "THEN WE'RE GOING SOMEWHERE ELSE." So, the secrecy continued. But the children didn't care. They were more than willing to wait to find the surprise of the day. And in the meantime, they thought of all the different flavors of ice cream ahead of them.


	14. Some Sweet Treats

Eventually, they drove into another shopping center, with a Baskin Robbins on the corner. While Papyrus parked, the children got out and ran towards it, having a small race. From a distance, both children suddenly stopped in their tracks and audibly gasped. In the window, they say Undyne and Alphys sitting at a table, Undyne gently spoon-feeding Alphys ice both put their hands to their face, turned to each other and agreed how cute this situation was. While they gushed about how adorable it was, Papyrus strutted up to them.

"YOU HUMANS CERTAINLY LOVE YOUR SHOPPING CENTERS, DON'T YOU? IN SNOWDIN, WE HAD ONLY ONE SHOP AND WE GOT EVERYTHING FR-" Papyrus audibly gasped as he stopped next to the children and saw the same thing they saw. He put his hands to his face blushing, saying, "AWWW, IT'S SO PERFECT! THEY'RE SO PERFECT TOGETHER! IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY TO SEE UNDYNE GETTING THE HAPPINESS SHE DESERVES! OH NO, FRISK, PRINCE, WHAT SHOULD WE DO? I DON'T WANT TO INTERRUPT THEIR DATE. IF WE WALKED IN, THEY WOULD BE EMBARRASSED. LET'S GO SOMEWHERE ELSE." As they turned around, the trio nearly ran into the woman they met at the store, Ashley. "OH, HELLO AGAIN ASHLEY. LONG TIME NO SEE! NYEH HEH HEH!" It had been noticed recently by everyone that Papyrus had an uncanny memory when it came to names. Even if he only met someone for a couple of minutes, he could always remember their name.

"Oh, uh, hey guys. What are you doing here?"

"We came for ice cream. What are you doing here?" Asked Frisk.

"Same thing. I'm picking up ice cream for my kids."

"Cool, see you later."

The three left to the car. Sans and Toriel decided to go home, confident that they were going to do fine by themselves. Ashley on the other hand, screamed internally at her ineptitude as she pulled out her phone. "Jonas, I'm telling you right now that this is a fool's errand. The skeleton is a goof, but he's far from dangerous. He's harmless." "Listen, I've been watching them just as long as you. I know how they are, but we have to watch them for a minimum of 5 days. They want to be sure. But, uh, I think we're good for the day. Take the rest of the day off." "Thanks, Jonas. See ya tomorrow." Frisk used their phone GPS app to figure out where another ice cream place was and after about two minutes they showed up. They all got out together and entered the store. Immediately, the only person in the store, the sole employee, made a very surprised face. His eyes grew at least three sizes and his jaw dropped.

"HELLO HUMAN! WE WISH TO PURCHASE SOME OF YOUR DELICIOUSLY COLD FROZEN TREATS! CHILDREN, YOU MAY HAVE TWO SCOOPS. ORDER AS YOU PLEASE." The two children bolted to the end of the line and slowly walked to the other end of the store, reading the flavors to themselves. Asriel eventually settled on a peanut butter cup and chocolate chip combo in a bowl, while Frisk got mint chip and chocolate in a waffle cone bowl. They both licked happily before Papyrus even finished paying. Asriel quickly discovered that if he made a mistake, the ice cream got into his fur and became quite the problem. Papyrus grabbed extra napkins as Frisk put their ice cream on the table as they doubled over in laughter. Asriel's snout made ice cream significantly less enjoyable for him, but it only increased Frisk's love of the stuff. "Hey, quit laughing, not everyone can have a small nose like yours." He smiled and clearly had an idea. "Though I mostly wished I had a smaller nose with a worse sense of smell, so I wouldn't have to smell you all the time. Yuck!" As he put a hand to his snout. Frisk had no comeback whatsoever, so just laughed along and applauded at the excellent burn after. "Guess I got burned there. Lucky I got something cold, hunh?" Frisk said with an expectant smile. Papyrus looked at Frisk with the same look he gave Sans and Asriel gave him the straightest, best deadpan face he could. Frisk eventually decided their joke was just too good for the current company and resolved to share it with Sans and Toriel later before picking up their ice cream again.

"COME ALONG NOW CHILDREN, IT'S TIME TO SHOW YOU THE BEST SURPRISE OF THE DAY! BESIDE MY FANTASTIC MEATLOAF THAT I WILL PREPARE LATER, OF COURSE!"

Asriel and Frisk had no idea what was going to happen next. It was around 2:30 and they enjoyed their ice cream in silence, both contemplating what they could be doing in the near future. Papyrus drove them around for awhile, then pulled over.

"Where are we?"

"OH, NOWHERE YET. I'M JUST NOT FAMILIAR WITH WHERE WE'RE GOING AND I NEED TO CHECK MY PHONE MAP REAL QUICK."

Both the children got to thinking. It's somewhere Papyrus has never been? Papyrus had gone almost everywhere in the city. It was a small city and his whole job was to go and meet people to give a good first impression of monsters to humans. Where wouldn't he have gone?

Eventually Papyrus got his bearings and turned into a parking lot that serviced several nearby stores. Then, when they all got out, Papyrus took his scarf and used it to blindfold both of them. It was awkward to move like this, but Papyrus believed the secret was worth keeping. Soon, the blindfold was removed after some sloppy guidance on where to go from Papyrus. They found themselves in front of a game store.

"I WAS TOLD BY SANS THAT YOU CHILDREN ENJOY VIDEOGAMES, SO IT WAS DECIDED TO BUY YOU A GAME SYSTEM. YOU MAY PICK A SYSTEM AND THREE GAMES AND I'LL BUY THEM RIGHT NOW. I'LL WAIT HERE." When they walked in, Frisk turned to Asriel and said, "Remember that revenge we were planning for Sans for leaving us with the Magnificent Papyrus? I think we may have to put that off for another day." "Agreed." Unfortunately, they had no idea which system was better and which games each had. They wandered around for about 10 minutes, trying to pretend they knew what they were doing until a voice talked to them from behind the counter.

"Hey, uh, you two need any help?" A bearded, muscular, man in a work uniform asked. "Uh, I guess we could use some." Frisk said. "What are you looking for?" "Well, we're getting a new console and three games. We like puzzles. And adventure. And action. We like a lot of things, I guess." Asriel said sheepishly. (Get it!? Because sheep and goats are really closely related? Screw you, I'm happy with it.) "Well, I'd recommend the Xstation. It's new, but it's had a pretty good release schedule, real good games available for it. Want me to show you?" The children quietly but attentively followed him as he showed them the system, the various bundles and games that seemed to fit what they might be interested in. Eventually, they decided on a game about a bunch of humans colonizing a new planet, a game where a person goes on a puzzle filled journey to find a new home, and a game about surviving in unforgiving environments of all kinds. They went outside and got Papyrus to buy everything.

"FINALLY! IT'S BEEN AT LEAST AN HOUR!" They both giggled and apologized, not realizing how long it had taken them. Papyrus payed the man, the children both thanked him for his help, and he gave them a gentle wave goodbye. They were very happy as they helped Papyrus load their purchases into the car. They excitedly, unceasingly, and almost unintelligibly, talked about their plans for the games. They began to work out a schedule for who would play when each would play and how long a fair turn should be. They eventually settled on an hour and a half, and decided that the first turn would go to Asriel Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Frisk would get Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sunday would go to the winner of a friendly game of chess, to improve on their skills. They finalized the agreement as they walked on the sidewalk, up to the door. They entered and were about to grab some pencils to write down their plan, when they realized something.

"Where's Mom?" Asriel bleated.

"I don't know. Papyrus?" Frisk turned to face the skeleton who was currently struggling with the weight of all his groceries and the children's new entertainment. They rushed to help him and apologized for being so thoughtless. "NOT A PROBLEM CHILDREN. WHAT WAS IT YOU ASKED?" "Where are Sans and Mom?" "OH! I WAS TOLD THAT METTATON, UNDYNE, ALPHYS, SANS, AND HER MAJESTY WERE GOING TO EAT DINNER TOGETHER AT SOME RESTAURANT. EVIDENTLY, IT SERVES SOMETHING CALLED "MEXICAN CUISINE," BUT I TOLD THEM THAT WAS ALRIGHT BECAUSE WE WERE GOING TO BE FINE. THEY PROMISED TO BRING LEFTOVERS FOR US." The children were satisfied with these events, and while Papyrus prepped for his lesson, now about an hour away, the children tried to figure out how to plug the system into their TV, one of the few things Toriel got that she didn't own Underground. Eventually, they got it, and had aprons, washed hands, and smiling faces 5 minutes to the lessons beginning. Papyrus had set up a laptop on the counter, with a timer counting down to the time when the lesson would begin, ingredients laid out on the table, oven preheated.

After 4 and a half minutes, the class began early, and a middle aged man overflowing with charisma welcomed all his students to another lesson, and said they were going to get right down to business. First, however, he looked at his screen bank to see how many people he had and who. The camera showed his shock to see a skeleton, goat child, and human all ready to go. He moved past it, and quickly seemed to forget it had ever happened. The children giggled at his surprise, and not long after were helping Papyrus ground beef. By the time the meatloaf and lesson were done, they had a lot of fun, especially when Asriel accidentally spilled some gravy sauce on himself and had brown spots all over him. He temporarily left to clean up, and the other two went on without him. Once the laptop camera was off, they all sat down and tried a bite. The meatloaf was delicious, and with a better teacher, Papyrus **had** become a good cook. Frisk leaned over to Asriel and whispered, "Remember the bathroom? When we talked about him just needing a different teacher and I believed in him?" "Yeah." "I'm glad I have faith in people." And they both laughed. After they had all eaten their fill, the children decided to go to bed early, and said goodnight to Papyrus. He decided he could not leave the children alone, and so he stayed into the late night until Toriel returned. Unbeknownst to the children, they would have a big, tiring, but probably fun day tomorrow, as well.

*A couple hours earlier in a Mexican Restaurant

Undyne stood up at the table with a fist slam, gathering everyone's attention.

"Guys, don't get me wrong, I love spending time with you guys and the stuff we've done together so far wasn't too wimpy, but it's my turn to pick what we do."

"What do you sugge-"

"I'm not **suggesting** we do anything. I'm telling you what we're doing. Tomorrow, we're renting out a laser tag arena, and we're going to fight. Ya know, in a way that won't hurt any of you pansies. I know a great place, and, it includes a smaller arena where everyone gets foam sticks and swords, and can beat the hell out of each other without getting hurt." And don't worry, we can bring the kids, too."

Everyone agreed that that sounded great, (Toriel was a bit worried for her children, but Sans promised her it would be fine, once again breaking his rule for Toriel) and made plans to meet outside when it opened. Another day, another surprise.


	15. The Third Human Monster War

The children were comfortably sleeping in their beds, with pleasant dreams in their heads. They had a good rest, filled with the delicious meatloaf that Papyrus and them prepared. They were content and peaceful. That is, until their door was kicked in, an energy spear lodged in it. They both startled awake, with a scream in their mouths and hands over their hearts.

"WAKE UP, PUNKS! We're going to have some fun today! Oh quit your whimpering!"

Toriel sleepily, rubbing her eyes, walked into the room. She had become used to being woken up early by an intruder in her home. Evidently, Brownie was so scared of Undyne that he refused to bark, and was currently hiding under the couch.

"Undyne, I thought we agreed we'd meet over there at 10, when it opened."

"Oh. What time is it? I just woke up and came over here." Everyone realized she was still in her pajamas, adorned with various anime characters."

"It's 6:23. Go home. We'll see you later."

"Yes, your majesty." Undyne sheepishly said as she slinked out.

"Oh, wait a minute Undyne. How did you get in?"

"Papyrus lent me the key you gave him."

"We never gave Papyrus a key." She said, confused.

"Actually, mom-" Asriel interjected. "- We accidentally spilled our ice cream on the welcome mat outside and Papyrus took it home to clean it. I guess he took the emergency key under it with him."

"Oh. I guess I'll just get it back later. Anyways, I'm going back to sleep. Do what you want children, but if you want to stay up, please stay quite."

The children decided to stay up and play some of their new games. However, they didn't take into account all the updates and the actual downloading times of the games, which would continue well into the afternoon while they were gone. So, they started the system on the updates, then went back to bed. At 8, Toriel gently woke her children and served them cooked potatoes and eggs. Frisk had found that they were very fond of ketchup, and ate every bite of their meal dipped in the stuff. They knew that Sans visited so often that he started to stock the fridge with ketchup, so even if they used a whole bottle there would still be plenty. Asriel on the other hand, hated ketchup, and made all sorts of jokes and insults about them being a weird ketchup-obsessed freak. It went on so long, that Toriel actually had to say children in an exasperated tone, something they knew to be a sign of her patience being tested, something no one wanted. Frisk and Asriel agreed to disagree on the wonder of ketchup and then decided to play chess until it was time to leave.

Around 9:30, they got into their car and left. The, "Combat Zone," as it was called, was on the other side of town and housed facilities for paintball, airsoft, and the two things they would be enjoying, extreme laser tag and gladiatorial foam fighting. The extreme laser tag was much like normal laser tag, except you could choose from different weapons to change how you play and there were objectives to win the game. It was a blue team vs. red team deal, so teamwork was essential. The possible games included Team Deathmatch, Elimination, Domination, Capture the Flag, and Search and Destroy. The three of them had no idea what those meant, but figured they would find out when they got there. Toriel also hated the sound of every last one of them, except Capture the Flag, which sounded nice and friendly to her. Even if she didn't support violence, she was willing to set that aside for her children to have fun.

When they arrived, Undyne was doing one-armed pushups and was in the 300's, Mettaton was looking at himself in a funhouse mirror at the entrance, Papyrus was struggling with knee pushups, Sans was snoring on a bench, and Alphys was quivering in fear of her imminent, impending, and unavoidable doom at the hands of her girlfriend. Frisk and Asriel ran ahead and got their wristbands, giving them unlimited access to the gladiator arena and laser tag. They could play either game to their heart's content for the whole day. After failing to complete more than 3 knee pushups, Papyrus gave up, wiped the skeletal sweat off his forehead and stood to greet his friends.

"GOOD MORNING! ARE YOU READY TO GO INTO BATTLE WITH YOUR COOLEST FRIEND, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!?" It was noted that he was wearing his battle armor today, something he hadn't worn since leaving the underground. Both children gave him an enthusiastic yes, which was met with an equally enthusiastic, "EXCELLENT!" Toriel finally strolled onto the curb. Alphys called for everyone's attention and everyone turned, even Mettaton who was infatuated with himself and Sans, who had stopped napping and looked with one eye open. "Uh, okay, so, uh… Guys, I think we need to set some, uh, ground rules. Y'know, to make sure it's fair. First, no magic." There were no gripes, they all agreed that that seemed fair, especially with a non-magical human in their midst. "Second, uh, there's no close combat." She gave a meaningful look towards Undyne, who eventually grumbled, "Fine, I won't hit anyone." "Good. Uh, Third, they have their own rules we should probably, y'know, look at. Other than that, uh, it's good to see you guys. I'm glad us friends could get together and do stuff like this without, uh, worrying about people." It was noted by Frisk and Asriel that she made a small wink towards Sans at the last few words, prompting tilted heads from the two children.

At that moment, a middle-aged woman with bags under her eyes and no smile anywhere to be found walked up to the other side of the gate, keyring in hand, and opened the gates. Everyone rushed inside, filled with joy and energy, except Sans and Toriel who walked slowly, as if there was no rush. A race to the laser tag area ensued, where Frisk, Asriel, Papyrus, and Undyne ran their hardest, Alphys jogged for a bit before giving up, and Mettaton strutted at a faster pace than usual. Undyne won, followed by both children and then Papyrus. They found a young man in glasses who looked like he already had more coffee that morning than is humanly safe to consume. "Howdy, ya here for the laser tag?" He said with bulging eyes.

"WE ARE INDEED!" The man stopped, took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, then replaced them. "I, uh, okay, let's get going." He seemed very unprepared for the near future and the buzz of his coffee seemed to have worn off almost immediately. He led everyone into a room adorned with hooks and shelves, covered in vests and realistic looking guns. The vests had sensors all over them, targets to shoot. The attendant was describing how the guns work when Sans, Toriel, Alphys, and Mettaton showed up. The man started over. "So, uh, these vests all have these sensors that you need to aim for with the gun." He picked up a gun. "You pull the trigger, and it fires a beam of light. You have to pull the trigger each time you want to fire, they're not automatic. Now we'll talk about the game modes. Team Deathmatch is the simplest, we get on teams, and you both try to kill each other as many times as possible. If you die, you go back to your starting point and your gun will reactivate. Elimination is like that, except there are no resets." Sans and Asriel looked towards Frisk who smiled with embarrassment, Frisk hadn't had a desire or need to reset since they went to the surface, and they both found it funny that he chose that specific word to describe something that Frisk could actually do. "In Domination, we use these boxes, three of them, and you hold down the button and then try to prevent the other team of pressing the button. For Capture the Flag, we use these little flags in their posts. You have to grab the enemy flag and bring it back to your base without dying. If you die, you have to take the flag back and then go respawn. Unfortunately, Search and Destroy is currently unavailable. Any questions?" No one had any. "Alright, which one do we want?"

After some discussion, everyone decided it was best to start with the simplest. Everyone geared up, ready to start. Mettaton asked, "Do you have any vests that look, y'know, fashionable?" "Uh, hold on." He left for a moment and returned with a pink vest. Mettaton seemed satisfied and put it on. The guy left for a moment and got 3 child-sized vests, one for Frisk, Asriel, and Sans, as the normal vests didn't fit him. Everyone tried not to laugh with varying degrees of success, except Toriel, Frisk, and Asriel who failed miserably. Sans said nothing, deciding to keep his dignity instead of making a stupid joke. The guy asked, "So, what are the teams?"

Mettaton, Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus banded together under the Red banner, while Sans, Toriel, Frisk, and Asriel joined the blue team. They were ushered into a large room filled with walls, obstacles, boxes, and all sorts of cover. Red team went to one side of the arena and the Blue team went to the other side. They heard over the PA the man's voice, "Alright, everything is active, starting in 3, 2,-" They heard a loud yell from Undyne and Papyrus, evidently getting a headstart charge. Sans said, "Here we go," and everyone moved out. Toriel seemed uncomfortable with the feel of a gun, but ironically enough she got the first kill. Papyrus walked into her line of sight, she brought it up to her shoulder, aimed, and fired several times. A yelling sound came from the vest and his lights went off to indicate that he was now dead. "PHOOEY!" Papyrus walked back looking dejected. Undyne immediately appeared around the corner, "Papyrus, NOOOO! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" Undyne tried to shoot at Toriel, but suddenly her lights went off. From behind, Sans, Frisk, and Asriel, executed an ambush and killed her. As she walked back, Blue team high-fived. While they giggled over their early victory, red lasers suddenly appeared next to them, they rushed to cover, and saw Mettaton elegantly moving about. Frisk called out, "He's too fast and fabulous, we can't hit him!" Sans responded,

"Okay kiddos and Tori, keep him distracted and I'll go around."

"Got it."

Both sides fired repeatedly at each other, neither landing hits. Suddenly a vest scream called out. The blue team saw Sans walking back to respawn.

"Sans, what happened?" Toriel asked.

"Alphys is-"

The PA kicked in, "Remember guys, dead people don't talk."

They got the hint and decided that Toriel and Sans could keep firing at Mettaton while Frisk and Asriel went around and would stay vigilant. Frisk and Asriel walked the way Sans came from. While Frisk turned the corner, Asriel stayed on his shoulder. A shot went by them, and Asriel shouted, "There!" Before they hid. A blast hit Frisk, but they saw where it came from. Alphys, frozen in fear was hiding in the corner, behind a wall nest to Mettaton. "Now we know how she got Sans, he was focused on Mettaton. Okay, both shoot her then hi-" They both died simultaneously and turned to see Papyrus and Undyne standing there. Undyne had a smug look and Papyrus laughed, "NYEH HEH HEH, ALWAYS BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS WHEN YOU'RE IN BATTLE WITH THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

The two of them grumbled as they walked back, and then charged back into battle. Sans joined them this time and they slowed, carefully searching as they approached. Papyrus and Undyne jumped out from behind a wall but were immediately cut down by the superior forces of the three child-sized combatants. Then, the three of them turned the corner and shot Alphys down before she could retaliate. To everyone's surprise, she started swearing aggressively, before she caught the eye of Toriel, with a glare so intense that Alphys had no choice but to apologize and sheepishly go back to base. Without support, they snuck around the former star of the Underground and shot him down. "No! My stardom, cut down in it's… prime." Mettaton, ever the dramatic star that loved to play with the children fell to his knees and pretended to die. The children laughed before Mettaton sprang back to life, "HA HA! You can never kill the star in me!" He leaped up and tickled both the children before returning to his base. The PA reminded them about the rule of no physical contact. The three of them high-fived again before returning to Toriel and setting up a defensive line. Over the next 10 minutes there were attacks and counter attacks and both teams discovered that an attack from a single person was essentially a dead man walking. They used many tricks to get the upper hand, but most of them only worked once, like the time Mettaton tried to slide to avoid shots and the time Papyrus used a bone on a string as a distraction.

Then a buzzer sounded and the PA announce that to end the round, they would do a quick Elimination round and to go to the door when they were done. Then, they would receive the final team and individual stats. Blue team prepared for the round and signalled to each other to all go to the right, move as one unbeatable unit. As it turned out, Red team thought the same thing. Their carefully calculated battle plan soon became a chaotic firefight that in the end, resulted in Toriel and Mettaton being left. It was a battle of extreme agility versus extreme skill. In the end, Mettaton got tired and Toriel finally hit him. All of Blue Team cheered and they walked to the door. Each vest had a codeword like Echo or Ghost, and they waited in the entrance room in front of a TV screen. Soon, the scores revealed that Blue team had narrowly won, with Toriel at the top of Blue Team and Undyne at the top of Red Team. Although Mettaton was near impossible to hit, he also wasn't a good shot, so his overall score wasn't too high. They all had a great time, but they were tired, so they decided to rest a bit before starting a new game. Sans sweated hard as he said, "Geez, this is the hardest workout I've ever had. I'm too tired to even come up with a joke. Heh, that's never happened before. Hey Alph, it seems your camping tactics didn't work as well as you hoped."

"I wasn't, uh, trying to camp, I was just too afraid to attack."

"Why were you afraid, my lovelizard? I could've been right there with you for it. You have to be confident. Next time, you and I will attack together, our hearts beating as one! Our passion colliding! The fire in our souls overcoming all opposition!" Alphys blushed at the pet name that she hated.

"AND I'LL BE THERE TOO!" Papyrus added

"Yeah, he'll be there too."

"And me, darling." Mettaton added.

Alphys' confidence training had been going well, she was more sure of herself, but she had the occasional lapse, which this was. They knew all she needed was some encouragement.

"Thanks guys. I feel better now. If you guys are ready, I think Domination sounds fun." She smiled slyly as she said, "And it sounds like a good game mode for camping." Everyone laughed at the joke and walked back into the room, ready to continue.


	16. The Third Human Monster War Part 2

Domination was a bit more of a strategic game. There were 3 boxes, one near each base, and one in the middle. Once a button was pushed on the cube, points began to accumulate, marked on the cube. When the cube had reached 300 points for either side, it turned green and could no longer be used. The way to win was to capture more boxes than the other team. Each team was given one minute to strategize before the lights would be turned off

 **Red Team**

Undyne said, "Okay Papyrus, you're captain of the Royal Guard. What's the plan?"

"ALRIGHT. THEY'LL EXPECT AN EQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF FORCES, ONE ON EACH OUTER POINT AND TWO ATTACKING THE CENTER. TO EXPLOIT THIS, WE SHALL ALL ATTACK THE CENTER! ONCE THE CENTER IS OURS, TWO WILL GO AND TAKE THE POINT ON THEIR SIDE. WHO VOLUNTEERS?"

Undyne immediately raised her own and Alphys'. Whether she wanted to or not, Alphys was going to be in this round. Mettaton then said, "Good, then Pap and I shall hold the middle until we've taken it, then if you still don't have that one, we'll help. If we take both those points and still haven't won, then take the last. If we work quickly, we might get a clean sweep."

"SOUNDS GOOD TO ME. ALRIGHT RED TEAM, GOOD LUCK OUT THERE, PREPARE FOR BATTLE! NYEH HEH HEH!"

 **Blue Team**

Toriel said, "Okay, I think we should- Asgore, what are you doing here?"

King Asgore humbly, almost feebly, walked into the huddle they had made and said, "Howdy guys. Uh, Alphys invited me. I was told you were playing and I'm here to help. The nice gentleman outside taught me how to play and how the game works. What's the plan?"

Asgore and Toriel were currently on neutral terms; no longer enemies, but not yet friends. Any attempts from Asgore to bridge the gap were met with staring eyes and silence, but he still tried all the time. Asriel was ecstatic to have his father on his team, and began, "I think we should have two attack the one near us and three attack the far one. The middle we take last. King Dad and I will take ours, while Sans, Frisk, and Mom take on the far one. We agreed?" Everyone nodded approval at the plan and took positions at the base's two exit points, ready to strike.

 **The Fight**

The buzzer sounded and each team moved out. Papyrus and Mettaton quickly took the center box with the push of a button and then fortified, each back to back guarding 180 degrees to each of them. Together, their eyes shifted suspiciously like a Doggo, looking for movement to catch and shoot. Alphys and Undyne did the same until the button was pushed. Once the point was secure, Alphys and Undyne moved out. Shortly after, screams were heard from both Undyne and Alphys. Papyrus and Mettaton shivered in fear. What happened to them? What could make the powerful warrior Undyne and the intelligent Dr. Alphys squeal like children? They could not even see them walk back to spawn, walls covered their view. Then they heard a laugh, a laugh that could only be made by a barrel-chested man who was enjoying himself. Neither one recognized it as Asgore's laugh. Unbeknownst to them, Asgore and Asriel ran to the nearby point and there, Asriel pushed the button while Asgore prepared himself for someone to arrive. After pushing the button, Asriel took cover behind a wall near his dad and not long after, Alphys and Undyne rounded the corner. Undyne, confident in her abilities used no strategy or caution and barreled around the corner with Alphys in tow. They were an easy target even for the inexperienced King and young Prince. Alphys and Undyne were both pleasantly surprised to see the King of the Underground, but initially they only saw a large imposing figure in a large cloak and armor shoot them, so they screamed in surprise. They quietly vowed revenge before leaving, and Asgore let out a deep and rich laugh that carried across the entire arena.

As Sans and Toriel fortified near a wall. Frisk pressed the button and moved to a cover opposite them. They all waited and after about 6 seconds, heard a deep laugh echo off the walls. Toriel said, "That's Asgore, they must be doing well." "Hey Tori, I know a guy who recently got laser eye surgery. It's been a month but they still don't have lasers coming out of their eyes. Heh heh. "I've heard laser eye surgery is very expensive, they must have spent a lot. It's **unfortunate** that they spent a fortune for nothing." Sans and her cracked a smile and couldn't help but snicker as Frisk said, "Mom, these puns have just **goat** to stop. If we keep telling jokes, when they show up, we'll all be **boned**." All three of them chuckled amongst themselves before Toriel spoke with a new realization, "Hey, why aren't they attacking us?"

Papyrus and Mettaton cowered in fear of being attacked and both sweated profusely. Mettaton found it to be a good time for a joke, "So, Pap, if we don't make it and this body breaks, I promise to come back as a ghost and haunt your brother whenever he's being lazy. He'll never take another nap ever again." Mettaton smiled and turned to him. Papyrus took a moment, then turned, smiled, and answered, "WITH THAT AS A REWARD FOR DEATH, I MIGHT JUST KILL YOU MYSELF RIGHT NOW." They laughed together and shared a moment, staring into each other's eyes. The moment was interrupted by a loud buzzer sound next to them as the middle was captured. "YES, WE DID IT! HOORAY FOR METTATON AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" They hugged and while they did so, they were suddenly flanked on both sides and were shot by the entirety of Blue team. It didn't occur to either of them that if their box went off, so did the others, as they were pressed about the same time. It seemed that Alphys and Undyne couldn't beat the Royal father-son team. Blue team won with 2 boxes to Red team's one. "Uh, Papyrus." "HM?" "You can let go of me now." "OH. RIGHT!" Papyrus let go of Mettaton and smiled sheepishly. Sans, Toriel, Frisk, and Asriel quickly looked to one another, to remind each other of the deal they made weeks ago regarding the two. Then everyone met in the middle and huddled together, team members encouraging others and giving positive feedback, respectfully speaking to their friends on the other team.

As they left the room to see their scores, Asgore remarked, "That was very fun, it reminded me of Galaxy Battles." Alphys let a sharp and audible gasp leave her mouth. "You know Galaxy Battles?" "Well, yeah. You showed me that anime stuff and I looked it up myself. I watched a lot of it, and I liked the space aspects. I'm fascinated by the vastness of space. And combat. And space combat." Everyone gathered that it was an anime about space and it had battles. Most of them were reminded of the Star Wars movies they watched. When the scores showed up, Asgore and Undyne were top of their teams. They had an equal amount of kills, but Asgore had one less death as Asriel killed Undyne once before she could get anyone. Alphys was no match for Asriel,he was so small that he was hard to hit, so between the two, Asriel made a killing everytime Alphys turned around, but she got him a few times. Frisk was the one to get the final shot on Papyrus and Asgore got Mettaton, so everyone else had nothing.

They all excitedly talked about the fun they had and made plans to visit the gladiator arena and beat each other up before going back to do more rounds.


	17. The Arena

The entire group walked over to the Arena, a large ring, similar to an outside laser tag area, but with less cover. The Arena was designed so that with your weapons, you'd be able to ambush or sneak attack opponents if you had the skill. Alphys was extremely worried about someone getting hurt during this particular game, especially with a human in it, but after extensive research, decided it would be safe. She came to this conclusion due to the fact that none of them had any intent to hurt the others and as such they would probably be fine. However, due to Sans' incredibly fragile nature, he would be sitting out the rounds, saying he would instead, "offer **femoral** support." So, 6 minutes after they left the laser tag place, all combatants were in protective armor with a different chosen weapon, and Sans sitting in the nearby lounge, with a window that he could see the battlefield from. He sat there with a ketchup bottle in his hands, eagerly awaiting to see how his cool guy brother would fare. Soon, a buzzer sounded and gates opened all around the arena. He saw all his friends wielding different foam weapons, designed to not hurt someone, but to let you know when you got a hit on someone. If you were hit, you were expected to use the honor system and get out accordingly, and if the referee caught anyone not following the rules, they would be pulled.

Frisk stood terrified, firmly gripping the sword and shield they held. They had never had to fight, but they were good with blocking, they learned that against Undyne. Now, though, to win they would have to not only block but hit too. Luckily, the object of the game wasn't to hit hard, just to hit, and they thought they could do that. They cautiously stepped out of their gate and into an arena, sun overhead. They ran into a nearby hut to try and hide until they had a plan. They ran into Asriel, who screamed by bleating very loudly. "Sorry, Asriel, didn't mean to scare you. Hey, you want to team up?" "What?" Asriel asked as he caught his breath from the harrowing jumpscare he just experienced, gripping his foam axe in case his adopted sibling betrayed him. "Yeah, I'm not so good at fighting and the way I see it, we can fight together, watch each other's back, and if we make it to the end, we walk away from each other and face off in a final standoff. Or we lose. But we'll lose together!" They said cheerfully. "What do you say?" Holding out their hand. Asriel thought for a moment, then smiled and shook their hand. "Great, now what?"

"Well," said Asriel, "Undyne is probably running around like a psychopath with a foam spear, my dad is either doing that or hiding and hoping no one finds him, same with Alphys, and I have no idea what my mom would be doing. Mettaton's probably in the center of the ring preparing to put on a show. Then there's Papyrus, who's probably trying to find people and then give a long-winded speech as to how great he is before fighting. "THAT'S PARTIALLY RIGHT, PRINCE!" Both of them turned towards the doorway behind them to see Papyrus, posing dramatically in front of the door. "I AM, IN FACT, VERY GREAT! AND I'D LOVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT IT BEFORE YOU LOSE! BUT I ALSO DON'T WANT TO TAKE FOREVER, SOOOO... *Ahem* I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, AM REALLY GREAT! AND I WILL DEFEAT, UH, THE BOTH OF YOU, I GUESS." It was evident that Papyrus realized he might've bitten off more than he could chew, but he certainly wasn't giving up now. Both children glanced toward each other, nodded, and then charged to the sound of their own war cries. Papyrus held a mighty greatsword, like a hero would, and blocked the first few attacks from the attackers, but was soon overwhelmed by the speed at which the two attacked. He was soon hit by both children and hung his head in shame. "OH, THE HORROR! THE GREAT PAPYRUS! CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, DEFEATED BY TWO LOWLY CHILDREN!" He paused for dramatic effect. "OH WELL, SEE YOU TWO NEXT ROUND!" He cheerily strutted towards the exit before suddenly turning around and asking, "OH YEAH, REAL QUICK… DO YOU KNOW WHERE SANS WENT?" They pointed to the window of the lounge where they could see Sans intently watching. "AH. THANK YOU, FINE WARRIORS! GREAT PAPYRUS AWAY!" He ran off to reunite with his brother as Asriel and Frisk high-fived and exclaimed, "Yes!", revelling in their victory.

"One down, uh." Asriel stopped and counted on his fingers, quietly mumbling to himself as he did so. "Five? Five more to go!" Frisk facepalmed. "Hey, come on, you know I'm not good at math! You'll see though. When we go to school in August, I'm going to become the best at math." "Challenge accepted." They both smiled at each other. "Okay, Asriel. I think the best option is to go after Mettaton. I'm like, 93% certain that he's in the center of the arena." "But if we're wrong, we'll be exposed." "Well, we can't just stay here forever." Asriel sighed then said, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Let's go." They both cautiously stepped outside their hut, constantly looking in every direction, their heads on swivels. Eventually, they saw Asgore and Undyne fighting in an alley between two huts, neither of the capable warriors giving an inch. The children quickly hid behind a nearby wall, giving them front row seats as they watched to see who would win. After some time, Asgore tripped on his cloak and fell to the ground. As Undyne prepared to stab him with her spear, she was suddenly knocked to the floor. Both children were shocked, as Toriel stepped out of the nearby house, her club still in her hands. Evidently, the Queen waited in the building nearby for an opportunity and struck through a window. Before Asgore could get up, he said, "Thanks Tori, I thought I was a- oof!" Toriel hit him in the stomach while he was down, but then helped him up. "You need to remember where you are Dreemurr. You're in a war zone." She said smiling. Asgore gently smiled back and said, "Tori, can we have a few words after this? And please, no jokes." He chuckled, imagining the wife he knew to say something along the lines of, "We can say a few words now." or something like that. "Sure." She said.

Then, as they watched, the children heard something behind them. They turned quickly to find Alphys standing there with her sword. "Oh, uh, drat. Uh, hi guys. I uh, was hoping I could sneak up on you. Any chance one of you would like to betray the other and help me instead?" Asriel said, "Nice try, Alphys, but Frisk and I are a te-" Asriel felt something jab him from behind. At first, he was filled with rage that Frisk would do something like this, and then realized that Frisk was in front of them. Asriel turned to see Mettaton, brandishing a foam dagger in each hand, dramatically posing after his fabulous sneak attack. Frisk heard Mettaton's voice say, "Sorry, Darling, comes with the territory." and turned to see the mechanical murderer in front of them and their brother pretending to be dead on the floor, complete with lolling tongue. "You planned this." Frisk said plainly to Alphys as they stepped backwards to see both of them at once, finger pointed in accusation. "Yeah, well, I'm not very good at fighting, so just like you and Asriel made a pact, we made our own. Turns out, I'm really loud when walking and Mettaton can be surprisingly sneaky, so I was a distraction. Mettaton was SUPPOSED to get both of you with his two knives, but he celebrated instead." "Don't worry about it Alphys, we've got as much time as we need." Frisk stood scared, quivering with fear, but smiled as they looked beyond the fallen Asriel, the traitorous Mettaton, and the clever Dr. Alphys, to see a savior.

In the lounge, Asgore, Sans, Papyrus, and Undyne sat staring out the window towards the arena. Undyne said, "I can't believe Alphys could be so cruel and cunning a tactician. I LOVE IT!" Papyrus said, "YEAH, I GUESS SHE'S ALRIGHT, BUT CAN SHE COMPARE TO THE SKILL OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS!?" "Hey Pap, didn't you die first?" "THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT, SANS!" Everyone chuckled and then Asgore said, "Where is the Human? I can't find them." After some searching, Sans said, "There they are, right, oh no." "What's wr- oh." Everyone watched in awe as Toriel gracefully walked behind Alphys and Mettaton, robes flowing, her face scrunched with determination.

"Excuse me, Dr, Alphys." "What?" Alphys and Mettaton said as they turned around. "Would you mind letting go of my child?" "Uh, Toriel, please, it's just a game, we, we just want to win." "Then you'll have to get through me first." She skirted around them and stood next to Frisk. Frisk smiled and adopted a fighting pose next to his mother. Just then, the lounge door burst open as Asriel ran in. "Did I miss it!? Did I miss the fight!?" "Naw, kiddo, get in here." Sans quickly but gently raised the Prince of the Underground onto a chair next to the window, so that he could see. Frisk and Toriel prepared their weapons. Mettaton prepared to fight, while Alphys just kind of quivered there. Toriel and Frisk attacked, both going after Mettaton full force, trying to hit Mettaton, focusing on speed. Mettaton was fast, an agile fighter that not only could attack with both hands, but could distract them with his other limbs or other tricks. While Frisk was focused on Mettaton, Alphys tried to swipe at Frisk, but they blocked with their shield and their counter-attack with the sword got her. Alphys knew she was hit and got out of the way. "No, Alphys! You'll pay for that, darling!"

Mettaton took several steps back, and spit in their general direction, a taunt meant to incite an attack. Toriel took this opportunity to step back herself and say, "My child, I think you can hold your own now." Now, the three of them separated into a triangle shape, speed against size against determination. They eyed each other suspiciously, and everyone at the lounge cheered for someone. Eventually, Frisk charged Mettaton and as they dueled, Toriel stood and crossed her arms. She refused to backstab anyone or attack when they weren't prepared, so she would fight the winner. Eventually, Mettaton knocked the shield out of Frisk's hand and stabbed them. They moved out the way and sat to watch the final battle. Toriel calmly picked up Frisk's shield and prepared her club. "Ready, you bucket of bolts?" "Any time, old lady." Toriel laughed and said, "Old lady!? I'm going to make you eat those words, you fancy microwave!" It was clear both of them were having fun, but everything had to end sometime, and they charged simultaneously. After a long, brutal battle, Mettaton tried to do two over headed slashes at once, was blocked by Toriel's appropriated shield, and then hit on the leg by her foam club. Mettaton conceded defeat, the buzzer blasted and they walked out of the arena and into the lounge, each with an arm around the other's shoulder.


	18. A Day of Bravery

Everyone cheered when the two warriors walked into the lounge. Toriel ordered a glass of water, and Mettaton sat down next to Alphys and asked her to make sure nothing was knocked loose. Everyone talked awhile about the fun that they had in the arena, the children talking excitedly about the awesome way they were betrayed, and how good an actor Asriel was for his amazing performance playing dead. Toriel seemed to be embarrassed to have won the match, considering she prided herself on her kindness. Toriel and Asgore, who had agreed to talk, went outside for a bit, claiming to need, "fresh air." The other monsters decided to respect their privacy and continued talking. Mettaton wouldn't stop talking about his upcoming album, how great it was, how much money they would make. Mettaton had done something unique on the album, where it included a second disk that showed Mettaton recording the songs, on video. Mettaton gushed about how he couldn't wait to tour, but also shyly admitted that he would miss everyone while on tour.

The King and former Queen soon returned, neutral looks on their faces, and the room was silent. They both sat down, and there was no sound for some time. Then Sans said, "So, how's about we get something to eat?" Everyone agreed that that sounded great and got up to go to the food court the park had, filled with restaurants of all kinds. However, as they stepped outside, they saw a news crew slowly roaming around the place. "Oh geez." Sans said. Toriel practically yelled, "What the actual HE-" She stopped herself, put a hand to her mouth, then finished with a quiet, "-ck." Undyne groaned as she asked, "What are they doing here? Why can't they leave us alone?" Before anyone else could react, they realized Frisk wasn't with them. The entire group looked around and saw Frisk and Asriel unsuccessfully trying to hide behind a trash can. As everyone was about to go, Sans said, "No, I got this. You guys go ahead and see if you can pick up on why they're here. There's a chance that it's not us." Everyone sternly nodded before moving their pack towards the more monstrous pack.

Sans walked over and crouched next to them behind the trashcan. "What's up, kiddos?" Frisk had their head buried in the shirt of their brother's green striped shirt. "He doesn't want to talk to them, and he won't even look at me." Looking back down at Frisk, he said, "Come on, Frisk, Sans is here. I think he's got some things to say to you." Frisk looked up and let go of Asriel before turning their body to face Sans. "Hey, bucko, what's wrong?" Frisk pouted as they said, "I don't like them, they said they would leave me alone and they didn't. They lied to me, and I can't stand liars." "Well then, don't stand, sit down." Frisk smiled a little and let out a little chuckle as they set their little body down on the floor. "Okay, what do you suggest?" "Well, I think my bro, as always, was right. You need to make a stand and talk to them or they'll never stop. I say we take the bull by the horns and go from there. Sound good?" Frisk nodded. "You're the monster ambassador, right? Ain't no one better prepared for this than you, Frisk. Let's go do it." Frisk put on a brave face, nodded, and then stood up. He took the hands of both children and walked them to the group. All of the monsters were sitting on benches, and were relieved to see Sans with the children. The reporter followed their gaze and said, "Ah, excellent. You're Frisk, I presume?" "Yeah, how'd you know?" Frisk calmly responded in as innocent a voice as they could muster.

"Well, heh heh, no one else really lives with the monsters, so it couldn't be anyone but you." It occurred to Frisk that this was a different reporter and only one of them knew where Frisk lived. 'So they all know who I am. Well, then, I guess they're sharing tips.' Thought Frisk. They also realized that they must've known they would be here today, and they would have to talk to Sans about it later. For the time being, they had to talk. "Do you have any words for us on this beautiful day, Frisk?" "Well, uh…" Frisk looked around nervously and started to sweat. They played with their hands and stuttered. "Well, um, uh, I'm." Frisk noticed out of the corner of their eye that the monsters were moving to be placed behind the camera, in their vision. Sans leaned into the camera guy's ear and soon the camera was in his bony hands. Sans winked at Frisk, and gave them a thumbs up before pressing record for a second take. Every one of Frisk's friends gave silent encouragement, through their eyes, gestures, and smiles. Frisk found their confidence in the faces of their friends and walked to the news man before swiping his microphone. The reporter looked shocked and Frisk stood tall and proud, head held high as they spoke into the device.

"Hello. I am Frisk. I don't have a last name, and I live with monsters. I saved them from the Underground. I fell into the Underground about 2 months ago. I traveled through the Underground and made lots of new friends. Through my journey, I found out that the monsters were trapped underground, held there by an ancient barrier. This barrier was created by humans, scared humans that panicked when they met something they didn't understand. That was millennia ago, and it was every monster's dream to leave. The barrier could be broken if a human wanted with all their soul to destroy it. I wanted to set them free, so I did. Now they're here, and they want to be friends. They want to be family. They want to be accepted. I stand here today as a human child." Frisk paused for a while, adding drama worthy of even Mettaton's best performance. "But I am not just a child. I am the Ambassador to monsters, and if you want to tell them something, you can tell me. I'll make sure they get it and get back to you. Thank you, and have a nice day." After a few seconds, Sans said, "And, cut. How's that for an exclusive?" Before waiting for a response, Frisk set the microphone on the floor and joined their family, holding Toriel's hand, and they all walked off to the laser tag arena.

When they got there, Frisk collapsed onto a chair, flush with victory and the adrenaline they experienced fading fast. No one panicked, and they got Frisk some water to drink. After greedily gulping, Frisk turned to everyone and thanked them. Asgore said, "I did well choosing you, Frisk. You were great out there." "Thanks, Asgore. I think I'm just going to take a break. Why don't you go play a game without me? I'll be fine. When you finish we'll go eat." Everyone reluctantly left their side and got geared up. They went in and had a great game. Cameras were placed throughout the arena and Frisk could see them on several screens mounted on the wall.

He watched his friends triumph and fail, as the circumstances would provide, during a team deathmatch. The teams were the same, except now they were equal, a 4 on 4. Toriel and Sans moved together, fighting as a unit, and were a very effective team. Alphys and Undyne did the same with a little less success. Asgore and Asriel kind of worked together, rather than staying close, however, they spread out. They would move apart like the points in a trident, move around obstacles and then regroup before branching off again. If one of them didn't make it to the rendezvous, the other knew someone was around and could prepare. It was an interesting strategy that worked more often than not. Papyrus and Mettaton stayed in the middle like they did for domination, and dared anyone to attack their position. Quite literally, as Papyrus said, "COME AT US IF YOU DARE! I PROMISE YOU WILL BE THOROUGHLY JAPED BY OUR PROWESS!"At that time, both parts of the Red team converged on the center and obliterated the duo. Papyrus yelled, "NOT ALL AT ONCE! CHEATERS!" And Mettaton just laughed hysterically before strutting back to start with Papyrus.

To end the round, the announcer told them something different would happen. "To end the round, there will be a free-for-all match of elimination. There are spots on the floor that are lit up. These are starting points, each separate from every other. Once everyone has their own, we'll get started." Frisk watched as each team member looked at the other and then waved goodbye before separating. Sans and Toriel took longer than everyone else, evidently talking, but it was too quiet to hear. Frisk wondered what they were talking about, but couldn't come up with anything so they just decided to wait for the round to begin. When it did, everyone moved out, some choosing an ambush point, like Alphys, and some on the hunt, like Undyne. Eventually Toriel found Asriel being too cautious, moving so slow they couldn't hope to dodge anything and was practically a static target. Toriel easily hit the stationary child. "Ugh! Mom! You're supposed to let me win with stuff like this!" "Sweetie, all is fair in love and war. And this…" She bent down and gently poked his nose as she said, "is both!" Asriel giggled and then started walking towards the exit, but as Toriel straightened herself, she was shot in the back. She turned with a shocked expression to find Alphys behind her.

"Uh, sorry, Toriel." "I knew there was a reason I fired you." Toriel smiled to let her know it was a joke and then left. Mettaton showed up after hearing the talking, but missed every shot. Alphys hid behind a wall and all Mettaton's shots went overhead. Then Mettaton's jacket screamed as Undyne shot him from behind. On the other side of the map, Papyrus and Asgore found each other and had a firefight, where both fired at each other from cover, making no progress. Undyne and Alphys had a stalemate as any attempt to shoot the other would cause the other to get shot first. While these two groups fought each other, Sans made a plan. He came from behind Undyne and shot her. Alphys raised her head to see what was happening and was shot in the back, also by Sans. Frisk noticed he was cheating using his shortcuts and couldn't wait to grill him for it. Then, Frisk decided against it, as some people didn't know about Sans' more unique qualities and if Sans wanted them to know, he would've told them. As such, Frisk would keep it to themselves. Sans then left around the corner, with a wide smile, as Alphys left confused at what just happened. Sans appeared behind the King and killed him. Then, he stepped out into the open, barely holding his gun, all of his target areas exposed. It didn't take long for Papyrus to shoot him and claim, "NYEH HEH HEH! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WINS AGAIN THROUGH CUNNING, SKILL, AND INCREDIBLE LUCK!" "Hey, good job, bro. Ya got me." Then the two brothers walked out in a sideways hug, Papyrus' hand on Sans' shoulder. Before leaving to get something to eat at the cafeteria, Frisk leaned into Sans' ear and whispered, "You're not very good at being fair, Sans." He smiled at him and said, "Hey, I was fair to you, right? I even gave you discounts on stuff." In the hurry for food, no one bothered to check the scores, and they all left happily.

The rest of the day went well. They went to the cafeteria but found nothing they liked, so they temporarily left the park and went to a fast-food restaurant. Mettaton loved them, because it reminded him of how hard he worked to emulate the human world and how well he succeeded. It made Frisk happy because they knew that Burgerpants was doing well now, helping Napstablook come up with music. It made Sans sad because Grillby's wouldn't be open until at least July. But he decided that human burgers would do for now. He whined the whole time though, complaining that, "Burgers weren't the same when they weren't made by a cool guy made of fire. He was really, **hot stuff.** " Everyone else enjoyed their meal, except Papyrus who ate nothing, electing to wait until they got home. After a good lunch, everyone returned to the park and played until the park closed at 8. Everyone was tired, their muscles aching from the strenuous exercise of combat. The Dreemurr family agreed to come to the Bone Zone for dinner. During the car ride, Asriel asked Toriel a question.

"So Mom… What did you and Dad talk about?" "Well, honey, as you know, when you-," She paused, "-well, heh, died. Your father and I split. Badly. He's been trying to reconcile since then, and today, I decided to forgive him. It's been too long and he's tried hard to make up for it. I told him that we could be friends and that I was sorry for being so cold towards him." "Oh." After significant silence except for the very low sound of the radio, turned almost all the way down. "Well, I'm glad you did. Dad did some bad things, but he's a good guy." "That he is. What do you think Frisk? Frisk?" Toriel turned around quickly to see Frisk gently sleeping against their seatbelt. Asriel giggled and Toriel smiled before turning her attention back to the highway. When they showed up at the skeleton house, Toriel came around and gently woke up Frisk and carried them inside. Frisk groaned as they were taken in. Papyrus was already cooking something, thought they didn't know what. Asriel had ran ahead and was in before them. He provided an answer. "Papyrus is making chicken tacos, with salsa and stuff. It sounds good." "I GUARANTEE YOU, IT IS GOOD! FOR IT IS MADE BY ME! NYEH HEH HEH! ACTUALLY, IT'S JUST ABOUT READY, COULD YOU GO GET SANS?" "I'll get him." Frisk volunteered. Frisk walked upstairs to Sans' room. They were so tired they forgot to knock and just walked in. They say Sans holding a picture frame close to their face, almost touching it. Sans snapped his head to Frisk and then quickly hid the picture behind his back. "Uh, hey, kiddo. Bye!" Sans tried to shortcut away, but Frisk leaped and grabbed onto his arm.

Soon, they both found themselves on the ground. Frisk recognized the cold of snow and looked around. They were in Snowdin, in front of Grillby's to be exact. "Sans, why are we here?" Not daring to let go of his arm. Sans got up, patting snow off of himself before responding, "Well, uh, I used to go here a lot. I panicked, so I went where I always go. Or, used to go." "My question is, why did you panic?" "I. uh, well." Sans let out a huge sigh, then seemed to relinquish. "Alright, kiddo. Don't say I didn't warn ya." Sans handed Frisk the photo. It was a photo of Toriel, one he must've taken on his phone, where she was smiling and waving. Tons of things clicked at once for Frisk. "You love Toriel, don't you?" "Well, just say it out loud, why dontcha?" "I'd rather you do it." They stood there a moment, Frisk staying close to Sans for warmth. "Alright kid, I've never been a good liar. Time to come clean. Yeah, I, really like Toriel." "Say the word." "Kid, I'm not going to-" "Say the word, no one's here to hear it." Another sigh before he continued. "Fine. I love your mother, Toriel Dreemurr, ya happy?" "Very." "Good." There was a long pause. "So, uh, what do we do now, Frisk?" "Now we tell her." "What!?" "Yep. If you don't, you're a hypocrite." Sans looked utterly confused and dumbfounded for a bit before asking, "Okay, what are you even talking about?"

"Earlier today, I faced my biggest fear, bigger than the Underground, bigger than Flowey, bigger than everything. I did it because you encouraged me and because you were there. I was able to do it because of you. Now it's your turn." "But, this is different, it's like…" Sans knew they were beat. This wasn't different at all. Sans wanted to be happy with Toriel, but to do that, he would have to face his biggest fear: rejection. It was exactly like what Frisk had done earlier that day, and they killed it. If they were playing chess, Frisk wouldn't even have to say "checkmate," because Sans knew they had already lost. "Okay. Will you be there for me?" "Are you sure you want me there? You might get even more nervous." "Yeah, you're right again, bucko. I'll go alone and tell you how it went. Either I get happier than I've ever been, or my life is ruined. No pressure there." Frisk rolled their eyes and couldn't believe that Sans sounded just like a middle-schooler. Sans grabbed Frisk's shirt and then returned them back to his room.

"Alright, kid. Go downstairs and eat, I'll be down in a second. After we eat, I'll find time to ask her alone. I promise I'll do it tonight." "I thought you hated making promises?" "I do, but this is one that I need to make. You're right about it, Frisk. I need to be honest about how I feel, or it'll tear me apart inside. Thanks kid. Heh. Maybe soon, you'll have to call me dad." "I'd rather call you skeledad, if you don't mind." Sans smiled and said, "I like it. Now get out of here, ya weirdo." Sans ruffled their hair and they left. Sans put the photo frame back on his dresser and prepared himself, not only for a confession, but for Papyrus' cooking.


	19. Dating Start?

Frisk found everyone already waiting at the table, plate in front of them loaded with tacos, rice, and beans. "He'll be down in a second." "WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? YOU WERE UP THERE FOR LIKE, 7 MINUTES. 7 MINUTES!" "Oh, ya know. Stuff." Frisk grabbed a plate and went to the counter. Chicken was cut and prepared on a dish, toppings like cheese and lettuce were out, with bowls of rice and beans next to those. Frisk decided to make their tacos with onions, tomatoes, and avocado slices, and loaded up on beans and rice. As they sat down, Sans came walking down the stairs. "AH, THERE YOU ARE! DID YOU FALL ASLEEP?" "Uh, yeah. That's what happened." Sans winked at Frisk before continuing. "Frisk found me sleeping and you know how hard it is to wake me up sometimes." Papyrus just shook his head, practically radiating disapproval of his brother's inherent laziness. Sans grabbed a plate and filled his taco shells with everything they had. Tomatoes, cheese, lettuce, sour cream, avocados, onions, rice, beans, and even some corn chips that he pulled out of a cabinet. His tacos were overflowing with stuff; they looked ready to burst. He grabbed a bottle of ketchup and sat down, seemingly happy with his creation. Everyone else was appalled. "SANS, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!? IT LOOKS DISGUSTING!" "Well Pap, if you're upset with my choices we can **taco** 'bout it." "SANS!" Everyone laughed as Papyrus fumed, unhappily eating his modest taco with just cheese and lettuce. "Actually, I do regret this decision. This is a terrible taco." Sans said, as he wiped his teeth with a towel. "WELL, I'M GLAD YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON."

Everyone enjoyed their food and as they were cleaning up, Toriel said, "Children, what do we say to Papyrus?" "Thank you Papyrus." Frisk, Asriel, and Sans spoke in unison. "YOU'RE VERY WELCOME CHILDREN… AND SANS." He said with a tone of resigned irritation, like he should be used to his brother's antics by now but still wasn't. Sans helped Toriel clean the dishes, which Papyrus seemed joyfully surprised at, glad that his brother was finally doing some work. Frisk and Asriel decided to watch TV until Toriel decided it was time to leave. Then, they would play one of their games in the hour or so they had before Toriel would send them to bed. Toriel was a great mother, but her bedtimes were brutal and well-enforced. Papyrus was on the computer, talking to people using social media. Papyrus had always wanted friends, and now he had more than he ever thought possible, according to his social media pages. Thanks to his publicity, many people wanted to see what Papyrus had to say. That, combined with his tendency to post motivational and confidence-boosting content earned him a sizeable following, in the hundreds of thousands. He spent a lot of time posting pictures, replying to people, reading fan-mail, which always made him swell with pride, and sending messages to people that seemed to need him. Papyrus searched the web for people that were depressed or in need of a friend and actively tried to help them through online confidence lessons and nice messages such as, "YOU LOOK GREAT TODAY, EVEN IF I CAN'T SEE YOU BECAUSE YOU LIVE IN NEBRASKA! BUT I'M SURE YOU LOOKED GREAT TODAY." Frisk overheard Toriel and Sans talking with occasional laughter as they cleaned. Frisk couldn't wait to see what would happen, and how Sans would play his hand.

They got their answer soon after, as Sans said to Toriel, "Hey, um, Tori, can we talk outside?" "Sure, Sans." Frisk nudged Asriel and said, "Come on, let's go see something." "What are we going to see?" "Magic." "But Frisk, I already have ma- woah, okay, I guess we're going now!" Asriel said as he got suddenly grabbed by the arm and practically hurled towards the door. Frisk shushed them, opened the door and quickly pushed the two of them outside before closing the door. The door being open, even for a moment, caused light to flood out of the living room into the darkness outside. Sans and Toriel looked back, but before they did, Asriel and Frisk leaped into the nearby bushes. They saw nothing except a closed door, and continued walking wherever they were going. After a moment, Frisk and Asriel crawled out of the bushes, covered with little scratches and leaves. "Frisk whatever we're doing better be worth it." "I promise you, it is." "I'll hold you to that promise when I wake up in the middle of the night tonight raking twigs out of my coat." "Shhh! Follow me." Frisk and Asriel followed Sans and Toriel, but they didn't have to wait too long. They stopped on a hill near the cul-de-sac, and luckily for the novice spies, a nearby tree lent its cover to them.

"Sans what are we doing here?" "Well, I like watching the stars. I spent a lot of time under those wishing stones Underground, longing to see the real stars. Now that they're here, I've got a wish I'm hoping they'll help me fulfill." They both looked up at the beautiful night sky, silent for what seemed like forever. "What are you wishing for?" "Well, uh…" Sans gulped and it was clear he was sweating, even from this distance. "I'm wishing for you." Toriel made a funny little sound of shock. The area around them seemed to go silent, and she slowly tore her eyes away from the sky to look at Sans. He looked up at her, with an awkward smile on his face. Toriel said nothing, and if the silence before the confession seemed like forever, this seemed like forever times eternity raised to the power of infinity. "Sans." "Yeah, Tori?" "What are you asking me here?" "I'm asking you to be my girl. I'm asking you to let me be more to you than I am. I'm asking to be the clown that takes care of your kids when you can't, that supports you when you need it. I'm asking to be your boyfriend." "And you're aware that you're doing this in front of said children?" "Oh yeah, but I knew that I couldn't stop them from coming, especially not a certain, determined, kid." Both children felt a chill down their backs and stood awaiting what would happen next. "My children, come out." Frisk and Asriel did so, heads down in shame. Asriel whispered over, "Why would you drag me into this?" "I thought you'd be happy." "Well, I am, but-" Toriel interrupted, "Children why would you spy on us? Did you plan this?"

"Well, actually Tori-" Toriel turned to face Sans, who stood with his hands in his pockets. "-I've liked you for… a while. Frisk gave me the courage today to tell you. I guess they just couldn't wait to see what would happen. What you would say." "Well, to satisfy their curiosity-" Toriel smiled and knelt to be at Sans' height, "-Sans the skeleton, I love spending time with you and it would make me very happy to see more of you, in a more romantic light. With that, I'm sending all three of you to bed. Say goodnight to Papyrus for me." She kissed his forehead, stood and said, "Come along, children. Tomorrow is the last day before our trip and we have to pack and buy supplies. Good night, Sans." She walked away, and the kids, stunned, followed her down the hill towards their home. Sans didn't move for another 10 minutes, standing on the hill with a stupid grin on his face, staring up at the stars. A tear fell down his left eye socket as he said, "Thank you." but whether it was to her, the stars that helped him, or both, he couldn't tell. Then, he took a shortcut home because he was lazy and had a busy day. He informed Papyrus that he was going to bed and Papyrus was left none the wiser about the biggest development in Sans' life since he discovered the door in the woods.

Back at the Dreemurr house, Toriel unlocked the door to her house and suddenly sprang around the house in joy. The children behind her barely managed to grab Brownie before he would've got stepped on by Toriel. She was laughing and smiling and just being a general ball of unbridled joy. Eventually, she tired herself out and sat on the couch, before explaining herself. "My children, I've liked that skeleton since before I knew he was a skeleton. Maybe not romantically, but I certainly liked him a lot. He brought light to my boring life in the ruins, and I looked forward to his visit everyday. Now that we can see each other and we can bond face-to-face, I've been waiting for this for weeks. Do you think I didn't notice each time he insisted on being with me? If we're going on teams at bowling, he's with me, laser tag, there, my children are being spied on, we get in a car to follow while Papyrus takes you away. I may be old, but I'm not dumb." She smiled brightly and rubbed the dog resting in her lap. "I'm glad he finally got the courage to ask me." She said, looking meaningfully at Frisk. Frisk was almost as happy as her, happy to see that the mother they loved dearly was going to be happy and equally happy that the first friend they made out in the Underground would be just as happy with her as she was with him. Only Asriel seemed to not be absolutely bursting with joy. He didn't seem unhappy, but he wasn't exuberant either. "Anyways children, it's time to go to bed. I promise you can play your games tomorrow, because I know you haven't really had a chance yet." The children headed off to get dressed and 8 minutes from then were in bed, teeth brushed, heater warmed up, clothes soft, and beds comfortable.

"Hey Asriel, are you okay?" Asriel didn't respond. "Asriel?" "Hunh? Oh, sorry, I wasn't listening. What were you asking?" "I said, are you okay?" "Yeah, yeah. I mean, why wouldn't I be?" "You just seem a little… off." "Well, it's a weird thing to see your mom preparing to date another person. But, I like Sans." Asriel didn't seem sure about any of the words he spoke, and turned over to face the wall. Frisk decided not to push him and decided to talk to Sans about it and reminded themself again to talk to Sans about how the news crew found them today. With that, they drifted to sleep.

Frisk was awakened by the sound of Brownie barking and soon, Papyrus opened the door. "HUMAN, YOU MUST EXPLAIN! SANS HAS BEEN ACTING STRANGE AND I DON'T KNOW WHY!" "Papyrus, just give me a second." they groggily said. Both children willed themselves awake and sat up in bed. Luckily for them, Papyrus had learned something of manners and it was actually 8:24, not too early for a wakeup call. 'What's the matter?" "SANS IS… COOKING SOMETHING!" "Didn't he do that once before?" "YES, BUT THIS IS DIFFERENT. SOMETHING'S… DIFFERENT! I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT, I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS ABOUT IT, NOW WILL YOU HELP ME OR NOT!?" "Yeah, yeah, of course, just hold on, we'll be over in a minute." "THANK YOU, FRISK." "Asriel, you can keep sleeping if you want, or play on the games. I'll take care of it." "You won't get a fight from me here." He said, as he plopped his head back onto the pillow. Little did he know, however, that Frisk had very good reasons for getting Asriel out of the picture; so he could talk with Sans. Within 10 minutes Frisk was dressed and knocking on the door of the skeleton home. Sans opened the door in a frilly apron, colored light blue, like cyan. "Oh. Hey, kiddo. What do you want?" "We need to talk." "Can it wait? I'm making cookies." Frisk was struck dumb for a moment and Papyrus appeared behind his brother. "SEE WHAT I MEAN?" He whispered not so subtly. "Hunh? What's up, Pap? Come on, you can tell me anything, ya know." "WELL. SANS. IT'S… ODD FOR YOU TO BE DOING THINGS. YOU WOKE UP EARLIER THAN ME, WHICH HAS NEVER, EVER, HAPPENED. THEN YOU STARTED COOKING SOMETHING, WHICH HAS ONLY HAPPENED ONCE. AND WHEN IT DID, YOUR MOOD WAS FANTASTIC FOR A BRIEF PERIOD, YOU EVEN HUMMED WHILE COOKING, LIKE YOU DID THIS MORNING."

"Well, I have a confession. Pap, I think you should sit down." Papyrus sat down on the couch and Sans and Frisk pulled up chairs in front of him. "So, uh, bro. I have a girlfriend." Papyrus jolted a bit, but then settled deeper into the couch, fingers pressed to his mouth in what he called his, "thinking position." "It's Tori." Papyrus narrowed his eyes and both people watching him waited for something to happen. Suddenly a bone wall appeared in front of both of them and Papyrus turned around and leaped over the couch. On the wall behind it was a phone. "Papyrus, don't you dare!" Sans yelled. "JUST TRY AND STOP M-" Papyrus suddenly found himself pressed against the floor and his soul was blue. "SO, THAT'S HOW YOU WANT TO PLAY IT. ALRIGHT THEN." Papyrus slowly pulled a cell phone from his pocket. Even if he couldn't break away from Sans' control he could still call. "Please Papyrus, just let me tell everyone in their own time. I don't know how they'll react, I'm still feeling it out. That's why I'm making stuff, I want to impress her." Papyrus stared into his brother's eyes, who stared right back. Papyrus sighed, then put the phone away. All the bones disappeared and he could stand again. "I SUPPOSE YOU HAVE THAT RIGHT. I'M SORRY." "So Papyrus, what do you think I should do?" Papyrus thought for only a moment, or at least pretended to. "HMM, A DOUBLE DATE." "What!?" Sans asked incredulously. Frisk was simply observing at this point, not interacting at all. They were enjoying themself though. Although, Frisk didn't really understand why Papyrus wanted to tell everyone so badly. Wasn't their business, though.

"YOU HEARD ME. CALL ALPHYS AND UNDYNE, ASK THEM TO HAVE DINNER. JUST DON'T LET THEM KNOW IT'S A DATE AND IF YOU WANT TO, YOU TELL THEM. IF NOT, YOU CAN SAY THE REASON IT'S JUST YOU AND HER HIGHNESS IS BECAUSE ONLY YOU TWO COULD SHOW UP." "Y'know, that actually sounds like a good plan. Alright, yeah. I'll ask Toriel, and use my sugar cookies to **sweeten** the deal." Papyrus straightened their stance and then walked to the door. With a monotone, dead voice they articulated, "I'M LEAVING NOW. I DON'T HAVE TO GO ANYWHERE, BUT I'M GOING TO FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO BE. GOODBYE." Papyrus left the house in his pajamas. "So Sans-" "Hold on, kid." Papyrus walked in a second later and said, "I'M LEAVING AFTER I PUT ON CLOTHES." Papyrus did just that and then Sans gestured for Frisk to continue. "Two things, how did the news crew know we would be there yesterday, and you need to talk to Asriel." "First, I did research last night after my confession. Evidently, they got an anonymous tip, probably from those people following us. Second, what do you mean?" "Asriel likes you, but he loves his dad. You need to talk to him and… I don't know. But, you have to do something to be accepted." "Don't worry, I think I got it. You mind sending him over to me?" "I'll go get him." "Thanks, kid." Sans sat down and prepped himself for what would undoubtedly be a difficult conversation. However, he didn't lie to Frisk; he knew exactly what to say.


	20. The Talk

"It's much too early for this." Asriel said to himself as he dressed himself to go to the Skeleton home. "At least I got a cookie from it." He took a bite from a brightly colored sugar cookie after slipping his arms through one of his many striped shirts. The times may have changed, but his fashion sense certainly hadn't. He ate the rest of the cookie and put some thought into what he was going to do over there. Frisk, along with the cookies, had brought along the message that Sans needed help with something at the house. "What could he need that only I could do?" Asriel decided to put it out of his mind as he ventured to fill the request. Asriel yelled as he walked out the door. "Bye mom! I'm going to talk to Sans!" She waved back from the kitchen, mouth full of sugar cookie and refusing to use improper manners and talk with her mouth full. Frisk sat on the couch playing one of their games while Brownie was resting on the couch. "See you soon, Asriel." Brownie turned out to be a very lazy dog. He rarely did anything but sleep and lick the nearest person to death. But the whole family liked it that way. Asriel gave them both a smile and then left. Brownie barely lifted his head, curious as to why one of his family members was leaving unattended, but not caring enough to do anything about it.

Asriel felt the sunshine on his fur, loving every second of it as he approached the house. Asriel took a deep breath and talked to himself, as years being a flower had conditioned him to do. "Okay, you can do this. Whatever it is." Asriel walked in and saw Sans sitting on the couch with his eyes closed and a chair in front of him, waiting. Asriel didn't like the looks of the situation, but before he could react, Sans opened his eyes and said, "Hey, kiddo. Have a seat." Asriel sat down and said, "Sans, be honest. Am I about to have a bad time?" "No, but an awkward one for sure." "Oh. I think I can live with that." Sans leaned forward as he said, "Let's talk about your mom and I." There was a moment of silence, before Asriel spoke again. "Sans, I'd like to retract my earlier statement, I'm not alright, matter of fact, I feel pretty sick I think I need to go lay do-" Asriel tried to stand but was thrust back into the chair with a flick of Sans' hand.

"Asriel, we need to talk. I didn't want to have to do this, but if you're not willing to talk about us and your dad, we can talk about something else." Asriel smiled and said "That sounds good." "Let's talk about the birds and the bees first." His skeletal smile widened. Asriel giggled and said "Sans, are you going to make me regret everything I say today?" "You see, kid, the birds and bees work like this-" "Sans, you can't be serious... Right?" Asriel's smile wavered as he considered the possibility that Sans wasn't joking. "Come on, Az, you know it's rude to interrupt someone when they're talking. I thought your mom taught you better." "Sans you can't be serious, please stop kidding around." "When a mommy monster, or momster, and a daddy monster love each other very much." "Sans, please don't!" Asriel shivered with the ickiness of the thoughts of this much hated subject. The most awkward talk you can ever have with anybody. "Well, things happen and-" "Sans please stop! Can we go back to you, mom, and dad!?" Sans stopped with his mouth open- mid word. "Well, buddy, if that's what you want." Sans smiled wide and winked at him.

Asriel smiled again before crossing his arms and pretending to pout. He said, "I hate you, Sans the skeleton." "Yeah, I get that more often than you think. Now, enough with the jokes, we need to get down to business." Both took a long breath while looking at the floor. They glanced up and waited. "So kid, as you know, your mom and I… well, we're dating, n-now. And I want you to know something about your da- oh hell." Asriel was starting to cry, trying to hide it, but he couldn't. Sans left the couch, picked up the child and sat him on his lap as he started to sob. He cradled him in his arms, rocking him gently and waiting a couple of minutes before he said. "Look, kid, your mom may not want to admit it, but she still loves the big guy." Asriel's sniffles stopped for a bit. "S-she does?" "Yeah, and I love him too, we all do. He's precious. But with your mom it's different. The love they have for one another is incredibly strong, and it takes more than a few child murders to break that. She still holds him tender in her heart, but she can't admit it. She left him on principle, and if she let him back in, she would be saying what he did was forgivable, which to her, it isn't. She refuses to forgive him entirely, but she can't keep him out entirely. Thus, she lets him become a friend again, but nothing more. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I-I think so. My parents still love each other, but have to stay apart, because of pride. Oh God, it's all my fault this happened!" Asriel buried his head into Sans' jacket again and cried harder than before. Sans was patient, and after a few minutes spoke again. "Shhh. It's alright, kid. It's no one's fault but his. He made that choice, and he's living with the consequences now. Personally, I think she will forgive him eventually, she's just too nice to stay mad at someone for so long. But... " Asriel looked up at him. "In case he doesn't come back, I want to be there for your mother. For you two. Tori's a great person, and I love her for it. Frisk is, well, Frisk. And you're Asriel Dreemurr, the prince of the Underground, and the cutest kid I know." Asriel blushed and wiped tears from his cheeks. "You and Frisk are the future, and you two need a dad, and if it can't be ol' Fluffybuns..." Asriel giggled at the old nickname. "Then it might as well be me." They sat there a long time, Asriel gently breathing as he thought, and the infinitely patient Sans awaiting a response. Eventually, Asriel gently asked, "Sans?" "Yeah, bucko?" Asriel returned the hug he was being given and said, "I'd be happy to have you as my daddy." Sans was startled at the intensity of the hug, and smiled as he said, "And I'm happy to be your **bone daddy**." Asriel giggled and said, "I think you'll be good at your job, even if you slack off." "Aww kid, now you're going to make **me** cry." They both sat there, waiting for nothing for a long time, though neither minded. Eventually, Sans started to move, and said, "Alright kid, I think it's time you went back home. Your mom will start looking for you soon." Asriel yawned, then asked, "How long have I been here?" "Bout an hour. Give or take a half." "Y'know, I'm very lucky you have a nice jacket, because your bones aren't very comfortable to lay on." "Aww, how are you going to go and hurt my feelings like that? C'mon, get up." Asriel groaned as he did so, then stretched. "Alright, see you later, Sans." As he left, Sans stood up and said, "Hey, hold on a minute." Asriel stopped with his hand resting on the doorknob. "Yeah?" "I need to send your mom a message, mind if I use you as a messenger?" "Sure."

Frisk sat on the couch, with a soda on the tv tray in front of them. They had a bag of corn chips to their left that they munched on occasionally in between puzzles. The puzzles were hard sometimes, significantly harder than Papyrus'. On occasion, they wished for an invisible maze puzzle with a solution built in, just to break up the constant difficulty every now and then. Asriel opened the door and Brownie jumped off the couch to greet him. Brownie never cared when people left, but flipped out when they came back. He excitedly jumped all around the goat child, who laughed and knelt down to pet him. Brownie enjoyed the sensation and eventually was content that Asriel was back from the seemingly endless journey they embarked on. Dogs have no sense of time passing. "Hey Asriel, what happened?" "Oh you know what happened." Asriel said with annoyance, convinced that Frisk was in on it, because they were always in everything. Frisk tried, and failed, to keep a straight face as they innocently asked, "What do you mean? I don't know what he needed from you." Asriel didn't buy it, and said sarcastically, "Uh huh." Tongue moving around inside their mouth. "Oh, hello my child!" Toriel suddenly stuck her head out of the hallway into the living room. "How is Sans?" "Uh, he's good. He asked me to give you a message. Knock knock." Toriel fully stepped into the room, crossed her arms in front of her chest and with a slight smile said, "Who's there?" "Wood." "Wood who?" "Wood you go on a double date with me, Undyne, and Alphys. We're not telling them we're dating, unless we feel comfortable with it at the end. I, uh, think those were his exact words."

"Oh, that silly skeleton. I'll call him and get the details without the joke. Thank you Asriel. Anyways, what did you do over there?" "Oh, u-uh n-nothing. I, uh, need to go the bathroom!" He sprinted past his mother towards the restroom. Frisk paused their game and turned around to look at an equally confused Toriel. They both shrugged their shoulders and Toriel went back to her room to read while Frisk unpaused the game and tried a difficult puzzle for the 8th time. Eventually Asriel came out and sat on the couch, not wanting to admit with anyone the moment they shared. Asriel was glad to have emotions like love again, but that doesn't mean he wasn't embarrassed to show them all the time.

Hours later, Papyrus and Frisk sat on the couch next to Asriel, who was struggling with a different puzzle. At some point, Papyrus, having nowhere else to go but not ready to deal with more of Sans' puns, came to their house and decided to help the children with their puzzles. He was more of a hindrance than a help, but he had his moments. They were doing a puzzle involving moving blocks onto points to open a door. It was currently Asriel's turn to play, but soon they would have to hand it over. "HMM. AH-HA! TRY MOVING THAT BLOCK!" Papyrus pointed at a block on the screen, and when Asriel pushed it in a direction, the puzzle became unsolvable and the game over screen appeared again, with the options of retry or quit. "OH. MAYBE THAT WASN'T THE RIGHT CHOICE." He said with a sheepish smile and shoulder shrug. Toriel, dressed in the clothes she wore when out and about, said she was going to go shopping and that she would be back in 4 hours or so. She would bring home dinner for them (The children, not Papyrus) then go for her date. Sans and Toriel talked for awhile on the phone about the plan for the night. Everyone was going for dinner, and the children couldn't come because they had auditions for the acting house they wanted to join when the summer began in a couple of short weeks. Papyrus couldn't come because he had business to attend to, and no one else had to be accounted for. In truth, there were no auditions for the acting troupe, and Frisk and Asriel were already registered for classes and later on would have auditions for parts in the local production of Horton Hears a Who. And Papyrus had absolutely nothing to do, which annoyed him to no end as it reminded him of his brother's lazy habits.

Once Toriel left, Frisk asked, "So why did you want to tell everyone this morning?" "OH. WELL, UH, I'VE BEEN WAITING A LONG TIME FOR SANS TO FIND SOMEONE TO LOVE, AND I'M VERY EXCITED FOR IT. HONESTLY, I WAS GOING TO TELL EVERYONE NO MATTER WHO IT WAS, BUT I NEVER EXPECTED IT WOULD BE THE QUEEN!" "Uh, Papyrus, you know she's not the queen anymore, right?" "WELL, IF ASGORE CAN CALL HIMSELF KING, I SEE NO PROBLEM IN CALLING HER QUEEN." "Fair enough." They got through the puzzle, and many more before Toriel returned. "Alright, give the poor machine a break, while you eat." Toriel had brought home two pizzas, expecting them to eat one and keep the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Toriel didn't need a microwave to heat the slices, and could just use her fire magic while in the car to heat the pizzas, that way they could stay on the road during their journey to the campgrounds. Papyrus dashed home and returned with a bowl of spaghetti from his house. Though he had been branching out and making new things, he still kept a supply of spaghetti for emergencies like this. He sat at the table with the children, everyone eating happily. When Toriel was satisfied that everyone was happy, she announced that she was leaving. She told the children to text her once every half-hour and that she would be back in about an hour and a half. She thanked Papyrus for offering to babysit and he gave her a salute and escorted her out the door. He closed the door and put on all the locks before returning to the table. He was currently wearing a dark blue suit with a purple vest and no tie. Papyrus now had many suit jacket and pant combos, and he enjoyed pairing them with a variety of vests and ties. Being a skeleton, he felt neither warm nor cold, so he could wear full suits even in the summer and be fine.

Everyone enjoyed their meal and they watched a TV show about homes getting renovated for about 40 minutes until they heard a knock on the door. Papyrus panicked, preparing several bones and yelling like a madman. He was convinced that a murderer had arrived to kill the children he was tasked to protect. It took about a minute for him to go through all the horrible scenarios possible and the shame he would have for being the one on watch when the Royal Family's kids were killed, especially disgraceful as he was head of the Royal Guard. Eventually, when he reluctantly opened the door, King Asgore stood, waiting. "Oh, hello Papyrus. I didn't expect to see you he- What's with the bones?" They immediately disappeared. "MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES, MY LORD. I BELIEVED YOU TO BE A THREAT, SO I CAME PREPARED TO DEFEND THE CHILDREN. DO COME IN!" He opened the door in a grand gesture. "Um, is your mother home?" "No, she's uh…. Out. With Sans." "Ah, yes, I heard about them. I'm very happy for the both of them, Sans seems like a gentleman and a comedian, both fitting qualities for a mate for Toriel." The words seemed to sting to say, but he also did seem genuinely happy for them; a bittersweet joy. "Wait, how do you know? No one was suppos-" Frisk trailed off as they noticed Papyrus to the side, eyes glued to the floor. He looked guilty and Frisk pieced together that Papyrus didn't keep his mouth entirely shut. "Anyways, I have important business that requires her knowledge. Can you call her?" "I suppose. Just a second." Frisk pulled out their modified cell phone and called Toriel.

The night was going great for the new couple. Undyne and Alphys picked a local buffet that had food for everyone's tastes. They weren't concerned that the others couldn't show, and seemed to buy the stories fed to them. Undyne began her rampage by stockpiling meat, such as roast beef and chicken. She stopped by the beverage bar and got a plain glass of water. Alphys began with a soup containing potatoes, chicken, onions, celery, carrots, and other things on her plate before going to the beverage bar. She was so uncertain about which one she wanted, she filled her glass with several different kinds of soda, and managed not to hurl or make a face every time she drank the unholy abomination. Sans grabbed a burger with nothing on it and a ketchup bottle, then grabbed a second one when no one was looking so they had a drink. Toriel followed Sans' lead and got a burger, this one with everything on it, and sat down with a cool glass of milk. Everyone was happy and enjoyed their meals for a time. They mostly talked about Alphys' research. Despite being fired, she was recently hired by a nearby research and development company. It was part think tank, part laboratory. Most of the credit and gains of any discoveries made there belonged to the company, but Alphys didn't care about that; she couldn't care less about people recognizing her work, and mostly just wanted to learn about the things that the Underground didn't have. She talked about all the things she had learned, barely stopping for breath or food. Undyne couldn't help but smile at her rampant passion, and the others liked to hear what she had to say.

No one minded that Toriel checked her phone every so often, they knew how much she worried about the children. However, something other than the expected happened, when during one of the breaks where Undyne forced Alphys to take a break and eat, Toriel's phone began to ring. She apologized, stood up, and took a few steps away from the table. The monsters didn't eavesdrop, as they were polite, but couldn't help but hear when she yelled, "What!? When!?" Matter of fact, the whole buffet couldn't help but hear, she yelled so loud. There was a twinge of fear in her voice. She noticed and spoke quieter after that, holding the phone close to her ears. No one ate, as they got more and more nervous. When Toriel put her phone away, by a silent signal they all knew to keep eating like nothing had happened. When Toriel sat down she said, "O-okay, we have a slight change of plans tomorrow." "W-what's happened?" Asked Alphys nervously while playing with her claws. "Asgore needs our help tomorrow morning. There's going to be a riot."


	21. A Small Problem

Toriel sheepishly apologized to the server for what seemed like the dozenth time in two minutes. The server waved it off and smiled as she cleaned the shards of glass and liquid all over the table. Undyne's response to the news was to blankly stare while accidentally crushing the glass she was holding, causing water to spill everywhere. Everyone was preparing to leave, the server cleaning up after them. When they walked outside into the crisp, warm air, greeted by the sight of the sun falling just below some clouds, Toriel began explaining the situation. According to Asgore, the mayor of the city had warned him that a large demonstration of people against the monsters was to take place tomorrow at city hall. It would be a large parade, protesting their stay. The mayor feared violence and set about warning monsters. Police would be dispatched over night to watch over monster houses and cruisers would stay parked in monster neighborhoods in case of any mischief. However, Asgore believed that simply avoiding contact would not make the anti-monster sentiment go away, and wanted to make an appearance at the event tomorrow. Knowing everyone was planning on going camping, he hated to interrupt their plans, but found it necessary. Asgore was requesting that Frisk, Asriel, Papyrus, and anyone who wished to speak at the event be there. He anticipated that the event would be over in time for them to still leave for their vacation at a reasonable hour, especially if things went as well as he hoped they would. Asgore asked that anyone who wished to participate arrive at City Hall at 7:00, an hour before the march was scheduled to begin. He called to ask Toriel for the children's participation, which she agreed to. Asgore thanked her and said that he would explain the situation to the three of them.

The three of them were flabbergasted at what Asgore had just told them. "So, uh, do you have any questions?" "Uh, yeah, a billion. Why would they be against monsters?" "Well, Frisk, they haven't had the same experience with us that you have. People are afraid, it's a lot for them to take in. I'm sure it will blow over soon. I wish I could just offer them all some tea, and have a nice chat, but there's far too many of them for that." Asgore chuckled, but no one else smiled. Then Papyrus seemed to regain his cheer and proclaimed, "DO NOT WORRY FRIENDS, AND KING! I'M SURE WE CAN COME TO AN AGREEMENT AND TALK TO THEM REASONABLY! SURELY, THEY CANNOT BE ALL CRUEL AND CRUDE!" Usually, Frisk would've been comforted by Papyrus' optimism, but right now all they felt was dread. This is the reaction they feared, a knee jerk of fear and hate. However, they did agree that talking might do some good. They didn't know how much good theirs would do, considering they had already tried their best, but maybe it would get through to them with others. All 3 of them agreed to meet tomorrow, and the two children went to get some extra sleep before their big day tomorrow. Papyrus decided to stay and watch out for them until Toriel came back.

"Jonas, we need to get a handle on this situation, some of the monsters could get hurt out there, we have death threats and threats of violence." "I know, Ashley." Jonas said exasperated, squeezing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger with a grimace on his face. "Then what are we going to do about it?" "Nothing." "Nothing!?" "Listen, I don't like it anymore than you do, but you know what the orders are!" "Yeah, to protect them! The report that they aren't dangerous went through, was supported by other evidence and we're now only watching to keep them safe, so what the hell!?" "Correction: We're watching to keep the kid safe. We can't interfere with any of the others unless they're in direct danger, like a house robbery. Besides, the police have it covered." "Do you really believe that, Jonas?" Jonas himself didn't know the answer to that question, but decided to keep Ashley from going into hysterics. "Yes, yes I do. You and I both want the same thing, the best life we can possibly provide for these monsters, but we're not yet at liberty to do that. I've put in requests, and we'll see how they go, but until then, we just have to watch." Ashley sighed, still angry at the bureaucratic stalemate she was stuck in, but she had no choice. "Okay. Talk to you tomorrow, I guess. Are you going to be there?" "Yeah, you?" "In the crowd. Maybe I'll change a few hearts and minds, eh?" "Sure, live it up, just be careful, alright?" "Alright, Mom." Dragging out the last word like a whiny teenager. Ashley and Jonas both cracked a smile. "Good night." "You too."

"Alright, kiddos, up and at' em." Sans was relaxed when he walked into the room the two children shared. He was always the best person to wake them up, as he had plenty of experience sleeping. Unfortunately, the kids had to get dolled up, and as such were awakened at 6:00, brutal by their standards. Toriel picked up dress clothes for the both of them on the way back home, and now fussed over them incessantly. Frisk laughed indignantly when Asriel did his shirt buttons in all the wrong order, garnering a stern glare from Toriel. Sans stood in the doorway with a smile and said, "I don't know if those clothes **suit** them." Everyone giggled but then Toriel turned around, folded her arms with a smug look on her face and said, "Well maybe you'll like your own." Sans' smile disappeared and he stiffened a bit, as a sweat drop formed on his forehead. "W-What?" "You heard me, I got you one too." She held up a child-sized suit, just his size. "Uh, ya know, I think I should just, uh, go in my normal clothes, show the people how I am on a daily basis." "Oh no, I think you need to look nice today." The kids held in their laughs for fear of Sans' revenge, but it was hard not to give in.

Soon after, Sans grumbled in his own suit and Papyrus looked proud standing in the living room. "I SEE THE QUEEN HAS FINALLY INSTILLED IN YOU A SENSE OF FASHION! I'M LIKING THIS RELATIONSHIP MORE AND MORE BY THE MINUTE!" Toriel giggled and Sans continued mumbling to himself with his arms crossed, pouting. Toriel wore a nice spring dress, with flowers on it, something she had bought recently. Papyrus was wearing a Purple blazer and slacks, a green shirt, and a sky blue tie. He was mismatched every way to Sunday, but he liked it that way. Frisk and Asriel both came out wearing simple but very snazzy black suits, with white shirts, and red ties. Both of them struggled under the constriction and heat they felt. "Yeah, not so fun when you're in them too, hunh?" "Okay, hold on. How does this make you uncomfortable? You don't even have skin to constrict on, a throat for a tie to choke, and you don't feel hot or cold." "Well, uh, I, uh… Alright, I don't know it just doesn't feel right!" He yelled, flailing his arms for dramatic effect. "Alright children, including Sans." She said with a joking air of superiority, "It's time to go. We want to be there a little bit early."

Papyrus took his own car and everyone else packed into the Dreemurr car. When they made it to Town Hall, people were already starting to gather in groups, a half-hour earlier than scheduled. Asgore met them at the back entrance and thanked them all for coming. "Mettaton is already here, and I don't know if anyone else is coming. We're just doing this on a sort of improvised schedule. We're playing it by ear. The ideal solution is that we get through to them, they leave, and we don't have to worry about it anymore. At the very least, however, we want to give them something to think about. We have donuts here, help yourselves." Muffet was sitting at a nearby table with her arms crossed. Frisk was very happy to see her again and everyone else introduced themselves. Everyone enjoyed their breakfast, but Frisk noticed a scowl on Muffet's face and asked, "Are you alright, Muffet? You seem unhappy." "Well, dearie, I am a tad upset. The King is forcing me to give every monster participating free food. Not like I have anything against these people." She said gesturing towards everyone else. "But, I could at least make a little bit of money." She grumbled. "Why do you need money? Didn't the spiders get everything they needed with the bake sale?" Muffet laughed and then said, "You can never have too much money, honey." Frisk decided this was a fair enough, if not greedy, answer and took a seat on a nearby couch.

It was 5 minutes to the start of the parade, and Frisk was overcome with nervousness. They looked out a window to see hundreds, maybe thousands of people outside, some with signs. Asriel came up behind them and whistled. "Guess we have our work cut out for us, hunh? Hey, you okay?" "Huh? Oh, y-yeah. I'm just a bit, nervous." "How are you nervous? You performed in front of the entire Underground, dancing and stuff." "First off, how do you know that? Second, that was different, I didn't really have a choice. Now I'm going headfirst into a nest of people who hate me." "First, Mettaton was very proud of it, showed me the recording of his debut as Mettaton EX, adding that you, 'did okay, too.' Second, they don't hate you, they hate us. Don't worry about it." Asriel said with a smile. Frisk lightened up a bit. Besides, they didn't have to talk for a bit, Mettaton volunteered to go first. Speaking of which, Asgore walked outside onto the platform above the City Hall stairs, something usually set out for speeches during elections. "Good Morning. I am Asgore Dreemurr. It is my understanding that you people gathered here today are of the opinion that monsters are… dangerous, or unpleasant. Today, I have brought with me many other monsters, friends of mine, to try and sway you. I would like to become friends, with all of you. But I can only do that with your cooperation. Without further ado, I present to you, Mettaton, the star of the Underground!" The crowd looked unimpressed and stern as they waited.

Suddenly, spotlights that were on either side of the steps turned on. Considering it was well into the morning, they made no effect on the lights or the drama, but Mettaton probably thought it was a good idea. Music began playing on the speakers, as ropes fell from the top of the building. People looked up to see a bedazzled Mettaton rappel down to the platform, followed by two human back-up dancers. Mettaton looked completely energized, pink sequins and rhinestones covering his body, purple highlights in his hair, a deep blue scarf and the biggest smile he'd ever worn. Mettaton was finally on the surface, enjoying the limelight and the only thing in the way of his success was prejudice, which he certainly wasn't going to let stand if he could help it. A panel on his chest opened and a microphone came out of it. He waved as he hit the floor and as he strutted to the edge of the platform said, "Gooooood Morning, Beauties!" With a flourish of his hand and scarf. At that moment, people started flooding in from all the entrances, cheering and screaming.

Back inside the building, everyone was very confused, practically panicking. "Asgore, what's happening?" Toriel asked, calmer than most. "I-I don't know. But I think they like us." All faces were plastered to the windows of the building or to the screens with live media coverage. A reporter spoke, "O-Okay we have new reports coming in that the Pro-Human Activist movement has been, uh, interrupted by another group, it seems. The Pro-Cooperation movement, as it calls itself, has arrived on the scene. We, uh, we have a spokesperson with us now…" But none of the monsters were listening to that now, they were all watching Mettaton. "Oh, hello! Welcome, Darlings! Now, they told me that I can't have a performance out here, but there's something they don't know." Mettaton leaned closer, as though whispering to a close friend. "Everything I do is a performance." Mettaton winked and struck a pose, to an uproar of applause from the newly arrived fans. Many of them wore Mettaton shirts. "Hey, look." Asriel said, pointing. "They have shirts of you, Frisk!" Frisk was startled to find that some of the fans wore shirts with Frisk's face on them. Most were professional, but even more disturbing, some were hand-made. Frisk had never blushed harder. Everyone covered their mouths as they giggled, but it didn't spare Frisk from the knowledge that they knew; Frisk was much smarter and more perceptive than they gave them credit for.

Mettaton continued, "Now, I can't force you to change your minds about monsters, but I'm certainly going to try! Monsters want nothing more than to live peacefully on the surface. The world we lived in Underground was dark, musty, foul-smelling, and… Well, you get the idea. It was terrible! The only thing I ever thought about, was coming to the surface. Where I belonged, to the spotlight!" Mettaton spread his arms out in a dramatic fashion to the screams of fans. "And now that I'm here, I'd like to thank those of you who would let my dreams come true, and I hope that the rest of you will come around. Now, I don't have much time now to talk, and have to get off soon, so I'm hoping you'll come to my first performance exactly 1 week and two days from now, where we will have a Q&A with the audience. Goodbye for now!" This statement wasn't true at all, considering Mettaton could stay as much as he wanted, but everyone figured that he had more planned for the future. The backup dancers danced energetically while Mettaton strutted off stage. Everyone cheered when he entered the room they all waited in, as he bowed and took their applause with relish. Asgore stood and said, "Alright Frisk, I think you're next." "Can Asriel come with me?" "I see no problem with that." "Wait, what!? Are you sacrificing me with you?" "Yeah, what are brothers for?" "I hate you." Frisk looked towards Sans, remembering a similar incident weeks ago and winked as they said, "No you don't." Sans looked confused but then recognition crossed his face and he winked back. Frisk took Asriel by the arm and dragged him to the door with a groan from their forced companion.

As they stood in front of the doors, about to step outside, Asriel whispered to Frisk, "Why am I here?" "Because you know I'm terrified and if you're so sure about this being a good idea, Prince Dreemurr, then you're coming with me." "Fair enough." The doors opened and they walked out, holding hands. They put on their bravest faces and waved as they walked to the platform. They smiled and hid their fear. Immediately, they heard a combination of "Aww"s and "Boo"s from the opposing sides. They ignored the negative ones and stood in front of the crowd. Frisk walked to the microphone stand and held it tightly. "Uh, h-hello. My name is Frisk, uh, I'm sure a lot of you already know that. Uh, this is my brother Asriel." Frisk gestured towards the goat-child and the boo's intensified. Frisk reflected that it was probably a bad idea to emphasize the family aspect to such a hostile environment, but decided that moving forward was the only option available to them. As they were about to continue, a ruckus broke out. Their attention snapped to a nearby section when a scream rang out and the sound of an impact. A woman was on the ground, wearing one of the very popular Mettaton shirts. A large man in a wife beater stood above her, evidently ready to let another fist fly. As the fist flew, it landed on solid bone with a sickening crunch.

As the man reeled in pain, a circular wall of bones appeared around the woman and a tall skeleton, looking absolutely horrendous in mismatching colors jogged onto the platform, eye glowing orange and face contorted in anger. He yelled inaudibly before reaching the microphone, "-UMANITY! OH, LET ME START OVER! HOW DARE YOU!? YOU WOULD HURT ANOTHER HUMAN, ONE OF YOUR OWN KIND, JUST FOR TOLERATING OUR OWN!? DO YOU TRULY HATE US THAT MUCH!? YOU ARE A SHAME TO ALL HUMANITY, SIR! I LOVE HUMANITY AND LIKE MANY MONSTERS I IDOLIZED YOU! WE SIMPLY WISH TO JOIN YOU, TO BE FRIENDS! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK!?" Out of the corner of their eye, Frisk saw a bottle flying towards them. Frisk raised their arm to block it, shielding the more fragile Asriel with their body when the bottle shattered against another bone that rose. Soon after, Sans casually walked out onto the stage, characteristic smile on his face. "Hey, guys. Let's not turn to violence here. Now forgive me if I sound like a broken record player, you've probably heard a lot of the same stuff before. But maybe I can bring some new material. In summary, Humans were jerks to monsters long ago, killed us by the thousands and trapped us Underground in squalor out of purely unfounded fear of the unknown. Through the help of a child with a kind heart, we escaped that hell, and now come back to those that ruined our lives, not with a message of war, but of peace. We have forgiven you for countless transgressions, and you just won't let us be. So now I'm warning you." His eyes shut and returned without his bright pupils, suddenly snapping his head to face a man in the audience. He was already holding another bottle, and had several around his feet. Frisk could tell that man was very drunk, even this early in the morning, and he was reliving his every last sin, with Sans staring deeply into his soul. He dropped the bottle in fear as Sans continued. "But… I'm not here to judge." His pupils returned. "I'm here to have fun, eat some hot dogs, by the way, great stand down there." He pointed towards a hot dog cart near the entrance who gave him back a big thumbs up. He reminded Frisk of the Nice Cream Guy, and almost immediately some 'Pro-Cooperation,' people, as they were called ran over and started buying. "And, uh… huh, I forgot what else I was going to say. With that, I thank you for your time. I'm gonna take a nap. You alright, kiddos?"

They both nodded and took Sans' hands as he walked them off the stage. Papyrus said, "WELL THEN, I GUESS IT'S MY TURN TO TALK." He pulled on his jacket and straightened out his look. "NOW, I BELIEVE WE GOT ON THE WRONG FOOT. EH?" Papyrus stopped to see that no one was interested anymore. They seemed to all be regretting their decisions leading up to that day. A few people threw down their signs, breaking them first or in the process. People started to leave, but many stayed, ready to listen. As Papyrus looked on, he noticed the woman still lying on the ground. "EXCUSE ME, MISS." She looked up. "ALLOW ME TO HELP." He extended his hand and platforms made of bones appeared in front of her, making a staircase to the platform. A piece of the wall opened and she got to her feet, slowly making her way to the platform. When she made it to the last one, Papyrus took her hand and gently guided her to the platform. No one else heard it, but he said, "COME ON, LET'S GET YOU FIXED UP, I THINK I'VE DONE ENOUGH TALKING TODAY." Deep inside, he knew that wasn't true. In fact, he had so much more to say, but he would say it later, when a woman wasn't bleeding in front of him, eye already swelling. Papyrus took her arm in the crook of his and walked her off the platform like a true gentleman, to the annoyance of no one.

When back inside, Papyrus guided the woman to lay down on a couch. He began healing her using magic, taking special care with her eye. Toriel was near hysteria, knowing that her children were just in danger. She was stroking Asriel's fur like a baby as she held him on her lap, furious that someone would dare to attack her children, even as they tried to promote peace. It took a lot of talking and jokes from Sans to bring her to a state even remotely close to peaceful. "HEY, I REMEMBER YOU!" Everyone turned to face Papyrus, who was handing the woman a spider donut. "FRISK, ASRIEL, IT'S ASHLEY! REMEMBER, FROM THE STORE, AND THE ICE CREAM PLACE. WHAT A COINCIDENCE!" Frisk vaguely recalled the woman and noticed that Sans had a look that said, 'What a coincidence, indeed.' She said, "Yeah, it's me. Uh, no thanks on the, uh, donut." Muffet stood from her table with a bang and rolled up her sleeves. "Excuse me dearie, but what?" She said with a tone halfway between annoyance and unyielding rage. "Do you think you're better than my pastries, hon? Do you!?" Ashley was startled and looked through Papyrus' ribs to see Frisk sending every physical sign they could that the answer was no. Frisk was shaking their head, making a gesture resembling the safe used in baseball and their eyes were bugged out. "No, I, uh, I'm just not hungry. I ate on the way here." "Hmph." Muffet sat down and unrolled her sleeves as she poured herself a cup of tea, offering some to no one.

Asgore walked in and passed out tea to everyone, from his own personal collection. Muffet grumbled that hers was better anyway, but no one paid any attention as Asgore cleared his throat to speak. "Everyone, as you know, there was an…" He looked around, resting his eyes on Ashley before looking nowhere in particular as he continued. "- Altercation. However, it seems many of the protesters have changed their minds. Many went home, but some have fully converted and become supporters. I don't know how, but we did it. You're welcome to stay if you like, but if not, I understand. Thank you all so much, especially our caterer supreme, Miss Muffet." The aforementioned spider stood and laughed gently as she curtsied low to the floor. "Thank you, thank you. And remember, I'm always selling at a stand outside my house, in case you simply can't get enough of my delectable creations." "Now then," He looked again towards Ashley, "How are you?" "I-I'm okay. Pleasure to meet you, King Asgore Dreemurr." "Please, call me Asgore." Toriel butted in, "Or Fluffybuns. He likes being called King Fluffybuns." "Please don't call me that." Ashley laughed and said, "No promises, your majesty."

"But, uh, I have to tell you something. I-I have to come clean. I work for Child Protective Services. I was hired to watch you guys and make sure you weren't holding Frisk under duress. I'm sorry I had to lie to you guys, but it was my job. Can you forgive me?" Before anyone else could respond, Papyrus said, "OF COURSE! YOU ARE BY FAR ONE OF THE NICEST HUMANS I'VE MET SO FAR. EVEN THOUGH WE MET THROUGH LESS THAN IDEAL MEANS…" Papyrus firmly gripped her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "... I'M STILL GLAD WE HAVE. YOU ARE MY FIRST, NEW, ON-THE-SURFACE BEST HUMAN FRIEND!" Ashley giggled and said, "Thank you, Papyrus. I'd be happy to be your friend." Papyrus threw up his arms and yelled, "YAY!" Frisk and Asriel came up to the couch holding hands, and Frisk said, "We would too." "Thanks, guys." Ashley teared up a little and shared a hug with all three of them. Everyone else, looked on happily, even Muffet, who didn't have a pleasant start with Ashley. Sans and Toriel acted surprised at this information, despite knowing all along. Sans would've been harsher and given her a bad time, but she was hurt and had just become a friend of Papyrus, so he refrained.

Asgore announced that there would be a break from speeches to the audience outside, and then went back inside. Everyone except Mettaton and Asgore decided to leave, the majority of them deciding that they had their fill of excitement for the day. They planned on going to a restaurant, inviting Ashley to come along and have a chat. They agreed to get in their cars and meet at a nearby Mexican restaurant, and Frisk used their phone to invite Undyne and Alphys from the back seat, with Toriel's permission, of course. As Ashley drove to the familiar destination, a favorite lunch-time visit of hers, with a bandage over her right eyebrow and gauze on her lip until she could get some ice, she never would've anticipated the interrogation she was in for from the surprisingly caring and maybe over-protective spear fisher that was Undyne. To be fair, nothing can **really** prepare you for that.

(Note: Next chapter, Undyne shows a caring side for the kids she really never does, and the camping trip gets under way! I've been planning this for a while, so I'm glad to finally be here. Happy stories are fun, but they get a bit boring without **some** drama, so I took the liberty of adding this chapter's contents, a buffer before camping fun. In other news, school finished today and all my finals are over, so I have some more time to myself during the summer, probably kicking my writing into gear. I also have a big summer project that might take me a long time, significantly larger than the summer can provide, but I ain't saying nothing and it will all be released at once. I'll tell you this, it'll be huge, and I'm very excited to write it. See you next time!)


	22. The Grilling

Frisk had no idea what a terrible mistake they had made by telling Undyne and Alphys the situation. In their car, rage was the overpowering emotion.

"Alphys! How can you be so calm about this! These people have been watching Frisk for like a week!" "Undyne, you need to calm down! They didn't do anything wrong. I'm sure they're just, ya know, nervous, about us showing up. They have to take precautions." "What if they were watching us, too!?" Alphys hesitated. "Well, I guess we just have to deal with that." "UGGHHH!" Undyne was very frustrated that Alphys wasn't getting mad like her, driving down the road like a madwoman, which some would classify her as. She was barely following the rules of the road, blinded by rage. "Look, Undyne, I know you don't like this situation, and I know you've always had some… issues, with Humans. But this Ashley person is just doing their job. Please don't be unfair with her. Just think," Alphys got an idea and slyly smiled in her passenger seat, "Maybe she's a reincarnation of a warrior princess." Undyne stopped at the next red light and jerked her head towards Alphys. "They can do that?" she whispered. "Yep, humans can do amazing things. Imagine if she was the reincarnation of Princess Azure. Just like her, she would be strong, stubborn, but always kind and willing to do the right thing. Kinda like you." Undyne blushed before a honk from behind alerted her to the green light in front of them. She flipped the guy off before driving onward, and the rest of the ride was silent; Undyne contemplated what to do, and Alphys sat there playing a game on her phone, proud to have defused the situation.

Some time later, two tables held a monster and human mixture, one for the kids and Papyrus, and another for the adults. Undyne and Alphys sat together, across from Ashley. Next to Ashley was Sans and Toriel, who faced an empty chair. Ashley felt like she was being interrogated by a cop with no evidence. Undyne sat there, saying nothing to her, but carefully watching her every movement. They had ordered their drinks, and were still waiting for them. Ashley recalled a couple of minutes ago, before Undyne and Alphys arrived, when Toriel had warned her about this fish person. "Undyne is very… passionate about what she does. From Frisk's phone call, Undyne didn't sound happy about what you've been doing, even if we're fine with it. She might be a bit hostile or cautious, but don't worry, I'm sure she'll come around. From what I hear, she was ready to kill Frisk when they met, but now they're besties." Frisk had turned around to look at Ashley and gave a thumbs-up and a smile. She had smiled back, but now neither Undyne nor her were smiling. Ashley could certainly see the hostility Toriel mentioned, and hoped she was right about coming around. The drinks came, and Ashley could finally breathe a little. Ashley, Frisk, Asriel, and Alphys ordered a Coke, Toriel ordered water, Sans ordered nothing hoping to sneak drinks from the ketchup bottle when they weren't looking, and Papyrus got milk. Undyne had a beer, a decision that did not go unnoticed by Alphys, who knew that Undyne only got beer when she was trying to calm herself down. Alcohol had an odd effect on monsters, it usually calmed them deeply, almost to the point of sleep after just a few drinks.

"Undyne, honey, why do you need that?" Alphys whispered. "I just feel like one right now." Alphys thought it best to just let it go, and as she thought this, the moment they were waiting for came. "So Ashley, why do you hate us?" Undyne sipped from her drink, showing not a hint of the fact that she just accused someone of something meant to hurt a lot. Ashley choked a bit on her drink and after a coughing fit, composed herself and said, "I don't. At all. I was at that rally to support you guys. I love the idea of monsters coming back, it's the least we can do after throwing you in an underground prison for thousands of years." She gestured to her Mettaton shirt, still stained with blood. "Uh hunh." Undyne said, before taking another sip and looking away towards Toriel, who was still shocked. "So how's the day been, your majesty?" "Oh, uh, well, it's been good so far. The protesters left for the most part, and I think things will only get better from here." "Nice. Sans?" "Same, pretty much. Though it was a little disheartening to have to use a little bit of violence. Sometimes it's all they react to." "Do you hear this, Ashley? We might have a great future here, and we'd rather not have to do it by threatening people. But mark my words, if you, your organization, or anyone else gets in the way of our lives, I will personally take care of it." Alphys couldn't take it anymore. "Undyne. W-we need to talk." They both stepped away from the table.

"What is your problem!?" Alphys said with a rushed, insistent whisper. Undyne still looked cool as a cucumber and calmly said. "I promise I'll be nice to her now, give her a chance and all that junk. I just wanted to make sure that she understood what this means to us, why her intentions better stay nice." "So you promise you won't be mean to her anymore?" "Yes, starting now, I'm giving her a chance. I'm sorry if you don't like how I've treated her so far, but I need to be sure. Plus, I just don't like the idea of her…" she looked towards Ashley. "Watching them." Undyne turned to look at Frisk and Asriel, trying to help Papyrus with the kids menu maze. "You…? Wait a minute. You don't care at all about that whole, "future life" stuff do you? You just care about Frisk." "What!? No! No. I just, uh, well. If something happened to the brats, Toriel would be sad, and then none of us would be happy, and if we're not happy then our lives are wasted. That's all." Undyne huffed as she crossed her arms, and Alphys smiled shyly with skepticism written on her face. "Uh hunh." "Hey what's that look for!?" "Ya know, it's really cute how much you care for them." "Shut up!" Alphys laughed and Undyne stomped away to get another drink; one just wasn't doing it for her. She leaned on the bar, waiting for a refill. Alphys went back to the table and said, "Don't mind her, Ashley. She's a bit upset that you spied on her favorite brats. Do me a favor, pretend to be the reincarnation of a warrior princess, if you can. It would put her mind at ease. I won't explain, it would take too long." "Uh, can do, I think. Thank you, Dr. Alphys." "O-oh please, just Alphys." She said bashfully with a blush.

"No Papyrus, I think we have t- no, wait." Asriel put his hand back to his mouth as he stood over the paper. The three of them had already played through the provided games of tic-tac-toe, and the obligatory word search. Now all that's left was a maze, where a taquito was trying to escape a maze to get to the bowl of guacamole. However, none of them were very good at mazes, and the puzzle was covered in lines that went nowhere, scratch marks covering dead ends; it looked like a confused canvas drawn by a madman. Sans looked over and said, "Wow, I'm **amazed** you guys haven't solved this yet." Papyrus chuckled and everyone did a double take. "WHAT!? SOMETIMES THEY'RE FUNNY! ACTUALLY, THEY'RE ALMOST ALWAYS FUNNY, I JUST GET ANNOYED WHEN HE DOES THEM TOO MUCH! BUT THAT ONE WAS ALRIGHT." Papyrus looked back to the challenge in front of him, but was soon interrupted by a waiter. They all ordered, and he was honored to serve monsters, gushing about how great it was to have them here, how good it was to see them taking such good care of a child, etc. etc. Everyone felt embarrassed. Alphys was about to get Undyne and ask what she wanted when she came back to the table looking very pleased. Unbeknownst to them, Undyne had an odd encounter at the bar.

As Undyne waited for the bartender to notice her, a man wearing sunglasses inside and a leather jacket despite the heat, started looking her up and down. She pretended not to notice, and he spoke to her. "Hey." "What?" "You one of them monsters?" "Uh, yeah." "Weird." Alphys had been teaching Undyne some anger management strategies, in case humans were insensitive to her, but they hadn't been going well. However, on this occasion, she held her tongue and gripped her glass a little tighter, but didn't act on her emotions. "Sooo, you got a boyfriend?" "What?" "I said, you got a boyfriend?" "Are… Are you hitting on me?" The guy started throwing his hands around and freaking out. "No! No! What do you think I am, some kind of freak!? But uh, do ya?" He leaned closer for her answer. "No, but I have a girlfriend." "Oh, you're a real sicko. I'll be going now." He left immediately, seeming flustered. Undyne didn't quite understand what just happened, but she knew enough to be upset about it. The bartender saw the whole thing and refilled her drink. As she was about to pay him, he held out his hand and shaked his head. He smiled as he gestured toward himself, a sign that he was paying for it as a sorry for that. She thanked him and grabbed the drink before returning to her table with a smile. Then she ordered a chicken taco.

Some time later, the children had completed the maze after much effort, and now played hangman with napkins. Ashley had tread lightly around Undyne since she returned, but she seemed fine, and made pleasant conversation with everyone, including her. No one knew, but Undyne's less than savory experience with that man had made Ashley's polite and open nature seem all that more inviting. She had promised to give her a chance, and now she was happy to talk with her. She learned that Ashley used to be a police officer and was an experienced fighter, a third degree black belt in Shotokan Karate. Undyne had been fascinated by Martial Arts, and planned on going to a dojo one day and dragging the kids with her when the monster thing died down and Toriel stopped trying to baby them. Undyne grew to respect Ashley and her experiences. She had heard many great stories of her heroically stopping a crime, and Undyne told stories of her own as captain of the Royal Guard. Suddenly, in Undyne's head, something clicked. She realized that Princess Azure was very similar, a crime fighter, skilled at combat, but also kind and helpful. Eventually, Undyne stopped talking to the others altogether, interested only in who she was convinced was the reincarnation of her favorite warrior Princess from Human history. Ashley noticed the special attention she was getting from Undyne, but was glad it was positive. She was happy to no longer be a threat to the former Captain, and certainly wasn't going to ruin it by mentioning it to her, so she simply continued talking about herself and anything Undyne wanted to talk about. Eventually everyone's food arrived and the table was silent for a stretch as they ate.

"So, Ashley…" Toriel began once she had decided she had reached her limit. "Does you telling us your job mean that it's finally over?" Undyne grimaced at the reminder of why she started on the wrong foot with Ashley, regretting not giving her a chance earlier. "Well, yes and no. My initial job, as I explained, was to make sure that Frisk was in good care, which of course, they are." She gestured to all of them, currently beaming with pride in their collective parenting and guardianship. "These two kids have a better family than most kids could ever dream of. Now, however, I have to go back to my normal job, but I got word on my way here that, well, uh… Do you want them to be around to hear this?" Gesturing over to the kids. Without turning, Sans answered, "Anything you have to say to us, you can say to them. You may not think so, but they're quite mature for their age." Everyone turned to look and found Papyrus, Asriel, and Frisk having a silly face contest. Asriel was scrunching his face with his hands, Frisk had their finger next to their nose, simulating a deep dig, while Papyrus put circles around his eyes using his hands. "Uh hunh, very mature." "Okay look, the kid saved a civilization, they can have a little childish fun every once in awhile. Anyways, I think whatever it is, it probably involves them and they should hear it. Tori?" Toriel nodded in agreement. "Alright then. Hey guys, can you come here real quick?" The kids stopped their competition and got up to see what Sans needed, followed by Papyrus who sat in a chair behind them and draped his arms over Frisk.

"So guys… Despite the success of the rally today, the government is worried about you, specifically Frisk. The CPS, my work, isn't going to watch you anymore, but the police and maybe some others are. Some of the people who don't like monsters are very… extreme. People are worried about your safety, and if something happened to Frisk…" Papyrus gripped the child tighter in their arms. "Bad things might happen. I'm staying your friend, and I'll be available any time you guys need me, but I'm sorry to say the surveillance will have to continue for awhile. Okay?" Frisk nodded their understanding and looked to Undyne. She looked furious and held a spear in her free hand, possibly unconsciously. She stood and spoke up. "Guys, if anyone wants to get Frisk, they're gonna have to get through me, first." "AND ME SECOND!" "And the rest in any other order." Sans winked. Ashley chuckled and said, "Well Frisk, it's good to know you're well protected. I need to get some real ice on these wounds and some rest, but I'll see you soon, and have fun on your camping trip!" She hugged Papyrus, Asriel, and Frisk, before shaking hands with everyone else.

"Speaking of which, do you guys have any supplies for that?" Toriel seemed shocked as she realized she hadn't really prepped for it. "What will we need?" "Well, I go camping all the time, I'll send you the list I use through text, and then you can do some quick shopping. I know a sports store that's open late with good prices." Toriel looked relieved, if a bit ashamed at her lack of forward planning. Undyne had yet to smile, her face set with steely determination. She had been convinced that Humans were good, with some exceptions, and she was ready to fight every one of those exceptions if she had to.

Papyrus took the kids home and babysitted once again, while Undyne and Alphys went with Toriel and Sans to buy supplies. Now all that's left was to get on the road in the morning and start a new adventure.

(Note: Sorry for the delay between chapters. My grandpa is very sick and is staying at my house, so we have to care for him often and do a lot of extra stuff. The thing about summer is that all the time is free time, meaning there's always things to be done, so I have to put off writing sometimes. Thank you for understanding and thank you specifically to the guest review that gave me the idea for the encounter with Undyne and the guy who refuses to admit his attraction to monsters. I liked the idea and thought it would be funnier to have a guy ask her out but refuse to admit that he wanted to, like a guy very confused about his orientation. I don't know, I liked the idea and I hope you liked how it turned out, if you're still reading. Thanks again, and see you next time!)


	23. A New Adventure

"So mom, what's the name of the campgrounds again?" Frisk quietly said. They were in the backseat with a sleeping Asriel, who for whatever reason always seemed to need more sleep. "It's called Lake Rowan. It's a beautiful place, with lots of trees, hiking trails, creeks, streams, and even a low current river." The car was moving a bit more sluggish than usual, filled to the brim with supplies and the like. The shopping got a bit out of hand the previous night, as Toriel was worried and prepared for every possible negative outcome. Despite being an optimist, Toriel tended to follow Murphy's Law on occasion. Everyone had already reserved their campsites next to each other, so it was agreed that everyone would drive there on their own and meet up once everyone arrived. Sans and Papyrus left about a half-hour before them, and the Dreemurr family had yet to see them. However, Sans made several references to a new outfit Papyrus had prepared, his "explorer's gear." Frisk took out their travel mug, currently filled with orange juice from breakfast and took a long drink.

"How's the living arrangement going to work?" "Well… actually, Frisk, do me a favor, gently wake up your brother. I have some things to tell you both and I'd rather not repeat myself." Frisk turned to Asriel and after a moment of thought, adorned an evil smile, then raised a hand to his snout and flicked it. Asriel awoke with a start, grabbing his nose. "Hey! What was that f-" Frisk stuck their finger, already wet by their mouth into Asriel's ear. "That hurt you know!" Asriel said, still holding his nose in both hands, trying not to let his eyes water. Frisk was laughing hysterically at their little wake-up prank and Toriel was shaking her head and rolling her eyes, but with a smile. "Children, please. Frisk, apologize." "I'm sorry Asriel." "I accept your apology." "Good. Now then, let's move on. Quick recap, we're going to Lake Rowan with almost everyone we know, including Mettaton, Napstablook, Alphys, Undyne, and of course, Sans and Papyrus. I don't know when the others left, but we'll be there in about an hour, and the brothers will already be waiting for us. So, listen to music on your players if you want, go back to sleep, whatever you like. Snacks and drinks are in the cooler next to you. I'll be listening to an audiobook over the car radio. You can also listen to that if you like."

As they were about to do their own things, the car began to ring. Toriel pressed a button next to her steering wheel and said, "Hello, this is Toriel." "HEY, IT'S YOUR COOL FRIEND, PAPYRUS! SANS WANTED TO SAY GOOD MORNING TO ALL OF YOU! ALSO, DID YOU GET A DOGSITTER?" "Yes, at Frisk's request, we hired a young man named Burgerpants, who could always use more money. He works for Mettaton, but he won't have anything to do while Mettaton's gone so we offered and he happily agreed for his, 'little buddy.' He seemed kind, and Brownie seemed to take a liking to him. Are you guys ready for a nice vacation?" "YOU BET I AM! BEING THIS GREAT GETS TIRING AFTER AWHILE. I THINK THIS WEEK, I'LL JUST BE THE ALRIGHT PAPRYUS. NYEH HEH HEH HEH!" "Alright then, we'll talk to you when we get there. Say goodbye children!" "Bye!" both children waved, despite knowing Papyrus and Sans couldn't see them. Frisk pulled out a small, hand-held MP3 player, Toriel had bought both of them one so they could indulge their musical tastes and whatever they chose to like in private. Frisk loved the device, and often listened to it before going to bed, being soothed by jazz or slow classical, or simply enjoying some rock until they couldn't stay awake any longer. Currently, they were listening to some metal, as they had taken a liking to the fast beats and aggressive guitars. It made them feel empowered and they liked the rush. Asriel chose to read one of the many books they had brought along, this one about some animal kingdom faced with the threat of annihilation by a neighbouring kingdom. By the time they got there, Frisk had listened to an entire album, and Asriel had gotten through 37 pages out of 176. Toriel got lost for a while, driving around the campgrounds until someone directed her towards their lot. She parked and the kids got out, stretching their legs.

Toriel looked around, not seeing the skeletons, and asked Frisk to text Sans that they had arrived, while they began unpacking. Frisk pulled out their phone and tapped Sans' contact name, when a skeletal hand snatched their phone. Frisk snapped their head up, and saw a smiling Sans with their phone, who said, "C'mon kid, don't you have any manners? You know better than to use phones on vacation in the great outdoors. If you keep this up, I'll have to confiscate it and find a cell for your phone." Sans handed back the phone and pulled Frisk into a hug, before walking over to hug Asriel and then Toriel, who knelt down to do so. "HELLO FRIENDS! ARE YOU READY FOR OUR NATURE GETAWAY!?" Frisk followed the voice and their jaw dropped. Papyrus stood in an outfit straight out of Tarzan, complete with goggles, bowl hat, and tan jacket. He looked like an Englishman exploring 19th century Africa, if the English were skeletons. "IS IT HOT TO ANYONE ELSE HERE?"

The campsite itself was on a small plateau, with rich dirt and a ring of trees around it, the lake a good distance away, barely visible. The other campsites were clearly visible from their own, they could see Papyrus' car parked in front of one of the campsites, completely empty as the skeleton brothers were sharing with the Dreemurrs. Within 10 minutes, the car was unloaded of all supplies, but now the tent had to be set up. Toriel had bought one giant tent, practically a house, designed to comfortably sleep 6. She had also bought cots for each of them. They began the process by dumping all the pieces out onto the ground and grabbing the road map-sized instructions. Sans held the instructions and harshly directed them on what to do, which poles went where, which stakes to hammer, and all that. At one point, Frisk got so frustrated trying to align a pole that they yelled, "Then why don't you do it!?" To which Sans responded, "On second thought, you're doing a great job. Keep it up. Just do it right next time." Frisk growled and shook with rage, but tried again, and got the alignment right. Eventually, after 20 minutes of frustration, confusion, and tension, it was complete. It was an earthy green color, with openings that served as windows, complete with bug screens. There were two doors, and the tent itself had a sort of cross shape, divided into 4 wings. Toriel, Asriel, Frisk, and Papyrus, who had changed into more comfortable cargo shorts and a blue T-shirt, walked inside to admire their work. As they stood and admired the lovely insides, Sans walked in, carrying a tray with cups of a red drink. "Good teamwork guys, we certainly did a good job setting up." Everyone, even Toriel, turned and scowled towards the foreman, who replied, "What, you didn't think I'd only direct you guys did ya?"

Everyone stepped forward and grabbed their drinks. Frisk got an idea, and whispered to Asriel. As Sans turned around to put away the tray, Frisk walked steadily around him, until they were facing each other. Sans, who was looking at the floor, looked up and said, "Hey kiddo you need som-" Sans saw Frisk's arm extend out, launching the cup and it's contents right at him. It was too fast to dodge and he was caught off guard, so he took it full force, and felt more liquid splash on his back. Fruit punch dripped down his face, his back, and most importantly, had ruined his jacket. Frisk and Asriel bolted in opposite directions, laughing. Papyrus and Toriel were shocked for a moment, but then laughed equally as hard. Sans calmly walked outside and raised his hand, trying to pull in a fleeing Frisk, but they resisted and he could only drag them towards him a little bit. But Sans had many more tricks up his sleeve. Suddenly a cage of bones appeared around both children. Sans lifted both cages, holding the children inside. He teleported to the edge of the lake, holding both children over the water by about 50 feet. They screamed and begged for mercy, but Sans had none for them. Frisk yelled out, "Wait! We can't swim!" Hesitation flashed across Sans face, but before he could act on this new information, Asriel said, "Yeah we can! Remember, Undyne taught us right after we got to the surface. She threw us in and made us learn that way." "ASRIEL!" Sans smiled, and the cages disappeared.

Frisk was still shivering, with new clothes, and a towel wrapped around them as they sat on a bench provided by the campgrounds. It was 11:23 now, and though they were almost dry, they were still very cold. Asriel had to be dried differently, thanks to his fur. Papyrus was off scolding Sans for such reckless behaviour, worried about the children, fearing hypothermia was about to set in. Sans had taken off his jacket, wearing only his white T-shirt underneath, which itself was still a little bit wet. As Frisk sat there, repeatedly telling themself that it was worth it, a car drove up, and you could hear some sort of Japanese pop song playing from it despite the windows being closed. Undyne jumped out of the passenger seat and took a deep breath. She was wearing a purple tank top, running shorts, and boots designed for hiking. She then squinted and swiveled her eyes around until she saw a certain skeleton. A smile glided across her face and she started running, her speed increasing as she approached. Papyrus didn't see it coming until it was too late, and he was tackled to the ground. As they wrestled on the ground, Sans walked over to greet Alphys. "Hey doc. How's it going?" Alphys reached out to shake his hand, but then pulled it back and narrowed her eyes. Sans reached into his sleeve and pulled out the concealed joy buzzer, before extending his hand again, which she shook. "Hey Sans, it's going well. Undyne is so excited, she didn't even sleep last night, but she's still so full of energy. I don't know how she does it." "How do you know she didn't sleep?" "W-well, she kinda kept me up too most of the night. But then I took sleeping medication and now I'm on a lot of coffee. We'll see how it goes. Anyways, I think I'll go get her and we'll set up our tent. Hey, where's your jacket, and why are you so wet?" "Long story, tell you later." Alphys walked off, and Sans helped pull Papyrus out of Undyne's chokehold.

Toriel returned with a hairdryer and her son, with all of his fur puffed out. Toriel was trying to look angry, but she couldn't help but smile; he was so cute when he was all puffy. She hugged Alphys and Undyne, and Asriel did the same. By this time, The two-person tent that Alphys and Undyne were sharing was up and ready. Undyne decided it would look cooler if the stakes were actually spears, so she stuck it to the ground with energy spears that would glow at night. Now that both children were dry and everything was set up, Toriel had a surprise. "Children, as you know, everyone is sleeping in a cot, but that sounds a bit boring. So, to add flair, I brought decorations." Toriel produced several bags, filled with glitter, sequins, paints, stencils, letters, and all sorts of other items. "You may use as many or as little as you like, just keep in mind that these bags are meant to be for anyone and everyone who wants to use it." Papyrus squealed and immediately grabbed a bag. Sans followed him, and both children took one. Alphys went to grab one, and noticed that Undyne didn't follow. "I'm not doing it Alphys. It looks childish and stupid." "But it's a good way to express yourself, show your passion." "I said I'm not doing it." "Fine. They'll be here if you change your mind." It was clear from the look on her face that this wasn't over, and Alphys had a plan.

Frisk and Asriel grabbed bags and raced to their "room." One of the four wings was theirs, with two cots placed in the room, their luggage stowed underneath. It was very roomy, which gave them both room to plan and do what they would. Frisk pulled out some letters spelling their name, and then painted them a light blue. They used heavy duty glue to stick them to the cot. Asriel pulled out some purple paint, and painted the Delta Rune on his cot. Frisk turned around, amazed at how good it was. "Asriel, that's really good." "Thanks. I, uh, always liked art. People said I was good at it. Maybe we can draw something while we're out here, a view of the lake or something." "That sounds good. Plenty of time for stuff like that." Frisk grabbed some strings and beads, stringing beads of every color and then tying them to bed. Now Frisk had about a dozen colorful tassels hanging from the side of their cot. Asriel finished his painting and put some glitter on the circle in the middle. "Hey Frisk, uh, sorry about ruining your plan to get us out of that retribution. I don't know why, I just can't help it! I don't like lying, I'm not good at it. Guess I'm just too honest for schemes, hunh?" "Honestly, that's a good trait ro have. I just wish I didn't have to get wet for it." Both kids laughed and surveyed what they had so far. Toriel came in and gasped. "Oh my children, they're beautiful. I never knew you were so creative Frisk, and it's so good to see your art again, Asriel." Asriel blushed a bit and they both said, "Thanks, mom." "We're about to have lunch, so you guys should come out when you're ready." "Be right there."

Everyone sat at one of two benches provided by the campgrounds with a plate in front of them. On each plate was a chicken salad sandwich and chips. Everyone had a drink too, Frisk and Toriel chose tea, Asriel and Alphys drank soda, Undyne and Sans had water, and Papyrus was drinking milk. Conversations rose, people constantly reminded by Toriel not to talk with their mouth full. Now they were just waiting for Mettaton and Napstablook to show up, and they all talked about their plans. Eventually, they ran out of things to talk about and everyone was done eating. They had no idea what to do. Then Frisk said, "Hey Asriel, wanna take a hike? It could be fun." Asriel nodded, and everyone stood up. All the voices spoke at once, so Frisk couldn't understand them. Then, Toriel, Undyne, Alphys, and Sans relinquished first speaking to Papyrus.

"MAY I JOIN YOU!?" They decided that would be fine, and gestured towards Sans to say what he was going to say, as Papyrus ran to their side. "Do you want me to come too? Pap and I can keep you safe and guide you around." The kids smiled again and beckoned him over. He calmly walked over and Toriel began. "I know you just ate and all, but allow me to prepare some snacks and drinks for you in case you get thirsty or hungry out there. I will stay behind and read a book as we wait for Mettaton." She left to grab some ziplock bags. "I'm going whether you like it or not, besties!" Undyne leaped next to them. "YAY! A FOREST ADVENTURE WITH UNDYNE!" Alphys said, "I think I'll go with you guys. I'd like to see if I can study some of the animals while we're here. Did you know that animals have souls too, but that they're even weaker than a monsters? It's extremely odd, considering that they have physical matter making up their bodies like humans, yet they have an even more limited connection to their SOULs than humans…" Alphys rambled on as they walked down a nearby hiking trail, everyone enjoying the feel of the noon-time sun on their backs, especially Sans, who still wasn't entirely dry. Toriel had to run after them and give them their snacks, but then the journey continued.


	24. First Night

"SANS, GET UP!" Sans had pretended to collapse from exhaustion 3 times in the last half-hour, each time Papyrus got less worried and more annoyed. "5 more minutes." Sans said groggily, face pressed against the ground. Frisk and Asriel giggled, while Undyne tapped her foot impatiently with her arms across her chest. "FINE, WE'LL TAKE A BREAK!" Everyone sat down in the middle of the path, in a small circle. So far, they had seen a lot of small animals, like squirrels, birds, and even some rabbits. "The ground really isn't too comfortable, is it?" Alphys asked jokingly. Suddenly, Undyne sprang up, and without saying a word, walked out of sight. Everyone's eyes followed her and Asriel said, "Hey, where is she go-" They heard a loud snap and a roar from Undyne, her warrior's roar. Soon after, a large thump was heard, followed by several impact sounds and smaller grunts of effort. Undyne was hidden from view by foliage, and everyone was confused. She came back carrying several slices of lumber, straight from a tree, and set them down so everyone could sit on them. "Uh, thank you, Undyne." Frisk said. "No problem, bestie!" "Hey Asriel, have you seen anything art-worthy yet?" "Wait, you're an artist?" Alphys asked. "HEY, PRINCE, DO YOU THINK I COULD BE THE SUBJECT OF ONE OF YOUR PIECES OF ART!? OR BETTER YET, ALL OF THEM!?" "Look what you did, Frisk." Frisk laughed and Asriel said, "Uh, well, I'm an amateur, I kinda just do it for fun, but maybe I can do that." "WOWIE! I'M GOING TO BE ART! I CAN'T WAIT!" Asriel gave him a thumbs-up and Alphys began to talk. "I ask because, well, do you think you could, uh, d-draw a, actually wait, do you paint or draw?" "Well, I mostly draw, but I can paint too." "Oh! T-that's great! Do you think you could, uh, draw a comic?" "A comic? Of what?" "W-well, uh, that's a secret! That, I need to talk to you about later. But would you do it?" "Oh, uh, sure, I guess."

"I can't wait to read it." Sans said. Everyone snapped to look at him; he had been sitting with his eyes closed, seemingly sleeping since they decided to take a break, not even getting up to sit on one of the logs. His eye twinkled as he said, "I'm sure it will be quite, **comical**." "OKAY, TIME'S UP, WE'RE GETTING BACK TO IT!" Papyrus picked up Sans and carried him on his back, leaving no excuses left for Sans about being tired. Everyone stood up and got on their way, grouping up and carrying on conversations. Then however, Frisk got curious. "Hey Papyrus, how can you carry Sans like that all the time without getting tired?" "WELL YOU SEE, FRISK, AS MAGICAL SKELETONS, WE DON'T HAVE MUCH WEIGHT BEHIND US. IF WE WERE SKELETONS MADE OF HUMAN BONES-" Papyrus had been taught basic human anatomy by Toriel, to ensure he knew what humans needed when babysitting. He was astonished by their complexity, but specifically with their muscular system. "-WE WOULD WEIGH MORE. HOWEVER, WE'RE ALMOST ENTIRELY MAGIC, MAKING US HAVE A COMBINED WEIGHT OF ABOUT 20 POUNDS. IN FACT, MANY MONSTERS ARE LIGHTER THAN THEY LOOK." "Yeah, watch this!" Undyne came over and grabbed Papyrus by his waist. "WAIT UNDYNE, NO! PLEASE STOP!" "Undyne wait!" Sans said, suddenly fearing for his life. Undyne lifted Papyrus over her head, then placed him on her shoulders, in a piggyback position. So for a time, the hike went on with half the explorers stacked on top of each other.

After more walking, Frisk's phone rang, and they pulled it out to see Toriel's contact calling. "Hello?" "Greetings, Frisk. It's me, your mother. I just wanted you to know that Mettaton has arrived and he would like to see you all very so-" "Darling! Hurry back from your little nature hike, I have gifts for all of you, and I can't wait for you all to get back here! Aren't friends wonderful!? Anyways, bye now." There was the sound of a phone hanging up and Frisk wondered how to tell everyone. "So uh, guys, that was Mettaton. He's here now, and he wants us to come back soon. He has presents." "PRESENTS!? IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!" "You sure do, Pap." Alphys looked up at the stack of people and asked, "So, uh, should we go back?" Frisk responded with, "No, I think we'll walk just a bit further, make him wait for our premiere." "Good plan, pal. Get him back for all those grape scraps he left on my piano." "Are you still on that?" "Yes. Yes, I am. But one thing I'm not, is going to carry these two anymore." Sans saw what was coming next and shortcutted away, but Papyrus was too slow and hit the ground hard when Undyne fell backwards. "OWW! UNDYNE! I SAID NO MORE WRESTLING MOVES!" "Aw come on, Papyrus, they're so much FUN!" Everyone laughed as Undyne helped Papyrus up ,who was still rubbing the back of his skull, when a loud rustle was heard nearby.

"W-what was that? It sounded big?" All the monsters prepared their magic, except Alphys who cowered behind Undyne. "Oh my God, it's probably a bear or a lion or something." "Alphys you know there are no lions out here." "I know, I'm just really scared!" Then, from the trees, a huge dog in armor bounded forth. "Greater Dog?" Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, and Frisk asked. "hoi!" they heard from behind. Everyone turned to find a Temmie, riding on the back of Doggo, no longer carrying his signature knives. "What are you doing here?" Frisk asked. "Why aren't you with the rest of the Temmies?" "bUt teM am wit oter tems. Temi villuge mov here after humN b mean." "Oh no, were the Humans mean to you?" Temmie gave a sad nod. "Why are the dogs with you?" Frisk looked towards a noise, seeing the Greater Dog wrestling on the ground with Undyne, happy to see his former captain. Doggo answered, "We wanted to get away from the city, with our newest family member." Frisk recalled the Amalgamate from the lab, happy that it had been reunited with its family. "The Temmies let us join and they've been very friendly. As it turns out, Temmie flakes are almost as good as dog treats. Almost." "Well, uh, that's good." "Yep. Anyway, we just heard noises and wanted to check. You're welcome to come back with us to the village." "Sorry, we have to go back now. Maybe we'll come back later." "Sounds good to me. C'mon. buddy." Greater Dog whimpered and reluctantly followed Doggo down the path, evidently towards the village.

"I forgot how heavy that dog was." Undyne said, as she rubbed a shoulder the dog pinned with his great big paws. "Hey Alphys, are you okay?" They were almost back to the campsite, and Undyne noticed that since Greater Dog showed up, Alphys had looked a bit down. "Oh, uh, yeah, yeah. I just… Well, they reminded me of the... mistakes I made." "Hey they're alright. They're just as happy with… it, then they would've been with all the dogs it used to be. And, according to Frisk, it's pretty happy too, right?" "Totally. I saw it before we left the Underground, you know, when I left you guys for a couple hours before we went to the surface? It was very happy to be home." "W-well, that's a relief. Thanks guys. Look, there's the campsite now." By now, it was 4:52, and Mettaton had been there for about 2 hours. He was waiting, talking pleasantly with Toriel with a plastic cup in hand. He looked up and saw them. "Blooky! They're back!" Napstablook phased through a huge trailer covered in sparkles, logos, and giant pictures of Mettaton in various poses. "Oh. Hey, guys." Napstablook gave a meek smile. The two groups met, and after many hugs and misguided attempts to make contact with a ghost, everyone took a seat. Mettaton stood back up and said, "Well Darlings, never let it be said that your fabulous friend Mettaton never did anything for you!" He winked and went inside his trailer, returning with boxes of stuff.

"Here we are, darlings!" Each person was given a Mettaton tote bag filled with various Mettaton merchandise, like a shirt, autographed picture, replica microphone, and most importantly, a signed copy of Mettaton's new album, Death by Glamour. "Frisk dear, I was trying to come up with a name for the album, and I recalled our little battle. I was inspired by how even though I was trying to kill you, you kept your cool and even better, became a star. You almost had a Death by Glamour, but instead, you lived with stardom." "Well Mettaton, I must say, you're about as good at naming as Asgore." "Why thank you dea- wait a minute, that's not a compliment!" "I know." Frisk ran and Mettaton ran after them yelling, "Why you little!" Unfortunately for Frisk, Mettaton's long legs allowed him to catch up in just a few strides. Mettaton took Frisk into his arms and whispered, "I'm going to make you pay for that, but after dinner." Frisk knew just how to get out of this. "Okay, Uncle Mettaton." They said innocently, then kissed his cheek. Mettaton froze in shock, blushing hard as Frisk disentangled themself and skipped back to the group. When Mettaton returned a little after, Papyrus came and yelled, "THANK YOU FOR THIS MARVELOUS GIFT, METTATON! I SHALL TREASURE IT, ALWAYS!" "Oh Papyrus, you're always such a flatterer!" "FLATTERY IS ONE OF THE MANY THINGS I DO GREAT! ALONG WITH EVERYTHING!"

"Alright, everyone, dinner is ready!" Toriel had just finished toasting all of their hot dog buns. "Well, almost, anyways. Now it's your turn to make the dogs." "UH, YOUR MAJESTY, I CAN'T DO FIRE MAGIC." "I wasn't referring to using magic, Papyrus." Many of the monsters were dumbfounded, lost in confusion. "How else are we supposed to cook our hot dogs?" Undyne asked. "Like this, the human way." Toriel walked over to the fire pit provided by the campgrounds and put two logs in it. She pulled a matchbook out of a pocket in her bag and tried to light the fire pit using it. The first match refused to light the logs, even after several repeated tries. "Oh. This one must be defective I guess." Toriel pulled out another, but there was the same results, nothing. Toriel began looking nervous, she had expected the human techniques to work with her. "Hey everyone, what's that over there!" Toriel pointed and everyone looked, except Sans and Frisk. They both sat with their arms folded, smiling at Toriel as she quickly used her magic to light the logs. Everyone turned when they heard the logs catch in flames. "Sorry, took the third match. Guess the third time really is the charm, huh?" She laughed nervously, giving sideways glances to Sans and Frisk, daring them to contradict her, but neither intended to. "Today, and for the rest of the trip, we're making all our food the human way, without magic." "What!?" Was the general consensus. "That's right. If we're to live in their world, we should learn how to live without magic. We can still use it, but I don't think it should be as much a part of our lives as it used to be. And our journey to independence starts now. Everyone grab a stick!"

There were some grumbles and drama, mostly from Mettaton, but soon they warmed up to the idea of what they thought was a natural human fire. They liked being circled around a campfire, telling stories so close to one another, and the feeling that this fire wasn't just one of their essence made manifest, but something completely natural and free. So they thought. Toriel hated lying, more than anything else, and Frisk could tell that just this little lie was already tearing her up inside. Frisk reached with their free hand to hold Toriel's, who immediately seemed to relax. She looked down and smiled, and Frisk winked back. "H-hey, uh, Toriel?" "Yes, Alphys?" "Are they supposed to be black and on fire?" Toriel noticed that she had held hers too close to the fire for a little too long, and it was now completely charred and flaming. She threw it on the ground and stamped it out. "Uh, no. No, they're not." Toriel grabbed another weiner and started cooking it. "Well Tori, looks like you got **burned** on that one." "SANS!" Papyrus yelled and Mettaton groaned, but everyone else laughed, and Toriel almost lost her second dog, this time to laughter.

After the hot dogs were cooked, everyone grabbed a bun and sat in their chairs. Mettaton carried a luxurious, silken, high-backed chair out of his trailer and sat in it. Everyone else was satisfied with lawn chairs they brought. Undyne spoke with her mouth open as she said, "Ya know, Toriel, these hot dogs are actually pretty great. Even if they were made the human way." "Yep. The human way is pretty great." Sans responded, winking again at Toriel. When Papyrus went for seconds, Mettaton asked a question. "Hey Papyrus, how do you and your brother eat? I mean, food doesn't pass through a monster like it does a human, but how do you taste without a tongue?" "WELL, YOU SEE METTATON, DUE TO US BEING MADE OF MAGIC, THE FOOD JUST SORT OF, GETS ABSORBED, WHILE IN OUR MOUTH. DESPITE THE LACK OF A TONGUE, WE STILL GET ALL THE NUTRIENTS WE NEED TO MAINTAIN OUR BONES." "Hmm, fascinating." "WELL OF COURSE! EVERYTHING ABOUT THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS FASCINATING AND COOL! I'M SURPRISED YOU WOULDN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS, I ASSUMED MAGIC WAS THE WAY YOU TASTED TOO, BEING A ROBOT AND ALL." "Actually, I don't taste anything." "WHAT!? HOW CAN ANYONE LIVE THAT WAY! MARK MY WORDS, METTATON, I WILL FIND A WAY FOR YOU TO ENJOY MY SPECTACULAR COOKING! ISN'T THAT RIGHT, ALPHYS?" "Yeah, maybe I can figure it out and install that later, when we're not, ya know, camping." Papyrus returned and started eating his second hot dog, followed by everyone else, except Alphys, who wasn't feeling too good.

"So Toriel, do you have any plans for the night, you seem to have made quite a few for us." "Well, Undyne, I might." "Which would be?" "Frisk told me that you play the piano. Is this correct?" "Yes?" "Well…" Toriel went inside to her tent and pulled out a keyboard, Sans' trombone, and several other small instruments like harmonicas and recorders. "We're going to make music together!" Mettaton practically exploded and a high pitched, heavily corrupted, robotic noise shrieked from his lips. Napstablook rose about a foot above the ground and looked super excited. Then, as instruments were passed out, he looked down again. "Oh no. We'd need a ghost instrument. Don't worry about it. It was a good plan. Sorry I ruined it." Napstablook stared at the ground, tears already welling up. "Not at all, Napstablook!" Napstablook looked up, confused. "I remembered a little bit about your family from when I was queen and remembered you have special needs, so I found this!" Toriel handed Napstablook a ghostly looking Thermen. "I asked around and found someone claiming to be your cousin, who gave this to me. They said it was one of your favorite instruments." "It... It is." He sounded amazed, and now the tears were less of sadness and more of happiness. "Now we can all play together! Those that don't know how to play, take a moment to learn, I got only simple instruments so it should be fine." Toriel pulled out a guitar for herself. "Mom, you know how to play the guitar?" "Yes I do, Frisk. It's been a long time since I have, but I think I still have it." She played a few strings, terribly at first, but quickly getting into a groove and soon she had all the major chords down. Frisk and Asriel on the other hand, held harmonicas and started from scratch, experimenting with them.

"YOUR MAJESTY, I'M VERY EXCITED TO PLAY MUSIC WITH ALL OF YOU, BUT UH, DID YOU HAVE TO GIVE HIM THAT?" Papyrus pointed warily at Sans and his trombone, who responded with a deep and foreboding, "Bwom!" sound, as though evil approached. Papyrus sighed and Toriel said, "Don't worry, Papyrus, I'll keep him in check. Isn't that right, Sans?" She growled the last few words, and he held his hands up in surrender, face contorted in fear. "Great. Uh, Mettaton, what are you doing?" Toriel asked. His flute was on the ground and instead he held a clipboard and was furiously writing. "I'm writing a song to sing during this little jam session. Every song is better with lyrics." There were some murmurs of both disagreement and agreement. "Alright everyone, now let's try to make a tune." After much effort, a basic rhythm was made and everyone learned to play it with their instruments. Papyrus, despite having no lungs, was very good with a woodwind instrument, and was having so much fun he asked Toriel if he could keep his little recorder. Toriel conducted everyone and then jumped in with her guitar on the second measure, along with Mettaton, who sang beautifully. Undyne, who had been working on her piano since the surface, played elegantly, while Frisk and Asriel floundered a bit with their jailhouse instruments. They both decided they were defective and that was the reason. Sans reined it in and played only when he was supposed to. After running through their new song 3 or 4 times, the group deformed and everyone began to play random things, just having a good time.

Around 9, Toriel asked if anyone wanted dessert, but everyone had had their fill of food for the night. Right after, Mettaton's phone started to ring, a repeated "Meow" sound with a base line behind it. "Oh, it's Burgerpants." Mettaton answered the phone. "Yes, darling? Oh, I see." Mettaton's gaze drifted to Frisk, who he glared at. "Frisk, what did you do?" "I don't know, Asriel, but I get the feeling that whatever it is, I regret it already." "Frisk, Darling, can you come over here please?" "Coming!" Frisk put their recorder down, pretending they weren't listening to him before. "Yeah?" "Burgerpants wants to talk to you." Frisk grabbed the phone. "Hey, little buddy, how are you doing over in nature?" "Good, we're having lots of fun." "Cool, so am I. Your dog is really chill, I think I could learn a thing or two from him about relaxing and reducing stress." "Don't you relax, like, a lot, nowadays?" "Yeah, but I want to be a master, like this little fur ball." Frisk stepped away and lowered their voice as they said, "So, uh, why was Mettaton giving me a look when he gave me the phone?" "Oh, well, I lied that I broke one of your things so I could talk to you. I didn't know if he'd let me. He's been a better boss since we got here, but, you never know. Anywho, just wanted to check on you and give ya an update. Talk to you later." "Bye, Burgerpants!" "Ugh!" Burgerpants had recently requested to be called Mr. Mittens, like he could've sworn his name used to be, but it hadn't caught on yet.

After that, it was hard for Frisk to stay awake and they drifted off, with Asriel following soon after. Toriel and Sans each took a kid and laid them to bed. They walked back out and took a seat with all the other adults, except Papyrus, who had gone to sleep long ago. Sans began the conversation. "So guys, any plans for tomorrow?" "I've got!-" Undyne began yelling but was quickly hushed by Alphys, causing Undyne to continue in a whisper, but a whisper that was still quite loud. "I've got an idea. We should go fishing tomorrow. With them, of course." She said, gesturing towards the tents. "Are you sure we can't leave Papyrus?" Sans joked. Everyone chuckled, then agreed that he should come. Mettaton shivered a bit. "Fish are gross, but anything for my favorite audience!" "H-hold on Undyne, don't you have to wake up like, really early to fish?" "Yeah, so?" "So I guess we should get to sleep now, hunh?" "Sounds like a plan, good night guys." Everyone walked to their separate lodgings, and went off to bed.


	25. Morning Mischief

Frisk enjoyed sleep, which made it even more of a crime to rob them of it very suddenly. If stealing sleep was a felony, Undyne would be put away for life. Frisk was startled awake by the impact of something hitting them in the belly. They jolted upright, and as they opened their eyes, something soft hit their face, and they saw nothing but utter darkness. They reached for their face and found cloth. They pulled it away and saw Papyrus, Undyne, and Sans standing at the foot of their cot. They almost screamed; seeing 3 smiling monsters, even after all this time, was still not comforting to them until they realized who it was. Especially when one of them carried an energy spear, tip pointed in the air. Frisk looked down to see that the cloth in their hands was a new sweatshirt for them. It was a simple, dark blue, with bright purple letters spelling, "Monsters' Favorite Human." They opened their mouth to thank them, but were shushed. Then, they all turned to face Asriel's bed. Sans picked up another ball of cloth and held it above his head, as Undyne raised her spear. She jabbed him in the stomach with the blunt end and as he bolted awake, the cloth covered his face, and Frisk had to cover their mouth so as not to laugh; He let out a little squeal as he rose, like a piglet.

"Wh-" He saw the other monsters after pulling away the fabric, then turned to see Frisk looking at him.

"GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE!"

"Is that what you call it?" Asriel said as they rubbed their eyes and reached for their watch, which they were using as an alarm clock during their vacation. Asriel gasped.

"What time is it, Asriel?" Frisk said, fearing the answer.

In response, Asriel tossed the watch and Frisk's eyes bulged at the response as they did a double take.

"4:12!? In the morning!? What is wrong with all of you!?"

"Oh, quit whining-" Undyne began. "-We're going fishing today, and everyone knows you have to get up early to fish. Come on, your mom's already making breakfast."

The monsters left and the two children slowly got to the work of the morning, namely, getting dressed, stretched, and adorned in their new sweatshirts. They showed each other what they got, with Asriel's being a bright green color with even brighter yellow writing that spelt, "Prince of Monsters."

"Wait a second, when did we agree to going fishing?"

"Oh you know, it was when, uh, when, uh…" Asriel thought deeply. "Come to think of it, I don't think we ever discussed that."

"Oh, so I guess now they're just dragging us wherever they see fit?"

"To be perfectly honest, I don't think that's much of a problem. We'd have lots of fun basically wherever."

"Yeah, just making sure I understand the situation."

Undyne's voice carried through the tent. "Hurry up, before I have to come in there and drag you out!"

"Coming!"

They walked out and Toriel looked up from the early morning campfire. She was carrying a pan, cooking sausages over the fire, which lit up the darkness around her. It was still completely black outside, but they knew everyone was sitting somewhere around, due to the conversations.

"Good morning, my children!"

"Mom, why do you let them do stuff like this to us?"

"Oh hush, you'll have fun!"

"What about you?"

She put her hands on her hips as she placed the pan on a nearby table.

"And what are you implying, Frisk?"

"It's just, well, you don't do much."

"Au contraire, my child. I do plenty of things, and I used to do more when I was Queen. I don't know what you heard, going through the Underground, but every monster knows who really ran the Underground."

Frisk recalled a couple of statements made that Toriel used to run the Underground, even saying she was the brains of the royal couple, and now that they knew them, that statement appeared correct.

"Anyways, I've done plenty of fishing in my day, and I'm going to teach you how."

"What about Asriel?"

"Oh, I already know how."

"What!? And you never told me?"

"Frisk, I'm your brother. I don't have to tell you everything."

"Well, you should."

"Maybe I will. Just not today."

"Alright, that's enough. Come on, get some breakfast sausage and bacon, then we'll get ready to go. After Mettaton wakes up of course."

As everyone sat and ate breakfast, consisting of ham, bacon, sausage, muffins, and fruit, it became slightly lighter outside. Eventually, Mettaton's trailer door opened and he stumbled out, hair and clothes well-styled, but still clearly very tired. Interestingly, several parts of his body, such as his central chest piece, were glowing pink. When he noticed he immediately switched it off and looked sheepish for a moment. Napstablook exited soon after, seemingly unfazed by the early hour, but still his melancholy self.

"Good morning, darlings."

Everyone said good morning in their own way. Mettaton slowly came to life, and began to eat. Gentle conversation began and as they ate they all woke up a little more. Papyrus and Undyne finished first, and started loading up one of the cars with fishing supplies. Sans finished early too, but didn't bother to help.

"Frisk, what are you wearing under that sweatshirt?"

"Uh, a T-shirt."

"Wait, where are your swim trunks?" She asked, looking at his legs, currently covered by a pair of light blue shorts.

"Oh, right. Wait, do I need those?"

"Of course! We're going to fish until it becomes fruitless, then do some swimming in the lake. How could you-" She seemed to remember something and raised a finger to her mouth "- oh right, you were not informed of the plan. All of us adults made a plan last night. I suppose they forgot to tell you in their… excitement."

They all looked over to see Papyrus attempting to escape from some sort of submission hold, but Undyne had locked it in tight. Alphys was watching intently, lying on the ground with a hand raised, like a referee in a UFC fight, waiting for the tapout.

Toriel shook herself to attention. "Anyways, go change into swimwear, and you too Asriel, if you didn't." Toriel sighed and both children rose to do as they were told. As they were about to enter the tent, Toriel called after them:

"Did they at least wake you nicely?"

Undyne looked up and indignantly said, "Of course we did, Toriel! We're always kind to the little tykes."

Toriel raised her eyebrows and lowered her head slightly; a posture that posed the wordless question, "Really?"

"Well, mostly, anyways."

Toriel turned to see both children just inside the tent shaking their heads slowly and morosely. She smiled ruefully and waved them both away.

Suddenly, Papyrus broke free of the hold and tried to make a counter attack with his own hold. He did, but Undyne simply lifted him, then elbow dropped onto him. As he lay on the ground in pain, he spoke.

"I CONCEDE, GREAT WARRIOR. NYEH... HEH- OW."

"You may be Captain of the Royal Guard, Papyrus, but never forget who the master is." She said with a large, crazed, and toothy smile as she pointed a thumb at herself.

"UNDERSTOOD."

"All of you stop that, and get ready to go." Toriel said as she wagged a finger at them, both her inner and outer mother showing.

A few short minutes later, everyone sat in one of the many cars, on their way to the lake. Toriel hated driving, fearing she would cause an accident, so Sans drove. Toriel took the passenger seat and considering that Papyrus refused to leave Sans or the children, he sat between them, the top of his skull brushing the ceiling. Papyrus accused Sans of purposely running over bumps and rocks in the road, but he insisted with a snicker that it was just a bumpy road. Only Papyrus believed him.

"So Asriel, if you know how to fish, how come you didn't know how to swim, and Undyne had to teach you?"

"She didn't, Dad did."

"You mean Asgore, right?"

"Yeah… uhh, well, Asgore taught me when I was younger, practically a baby, and then Mom taught me to fish shortly after."

"Then why didn't you swim when Undyne tried to teach us, ya know, by throwing us into the water? 'Trial by water,' she called it?"

Asriel blushed a little. "Well, I knew you didn't know how, so I pretended I didn't, so you had someone. Undyne is a good friend of Asgore's, so I know her pretty well. I thought she might do something like she did, and I didn't want you to do it alone."

"I AM ALSO A GOOD FRIEND OF ASGORE'S! AND OF UNDYNE'S! AND EVERYONE!"

"Yes Papyrus, you're a good friend to everyone." Frisk said.

"No, a GREAT one!" Asriel chimed.

"OF COURSE! I AM, AFTER ALL, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

Suddenly, the car rose a couple inches and a loud, "CONK!" was heard as Papyrus smacked his forehead into the roof.

"OW! SANS!"

"Sorry bro, it's hard to control the car sometimes."

"IF I DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER, I'D SAY YOU'RE-"

"Papyrus, please try to quiet down, it's much too early in such a tight space for loud noises." Toriel said, drearily.

"OH, OF COURSE YOUR MAJESTY."

"Oh look, we're here."

"YAY!"

Everyone winced a little as his cheer reverberated around in the car, causing physical pain to their eardrums.

As soon as Frisk opened their door, Papyrus dove out, not even waiting for Frisk to get out first. Sans and Toriel calmly exited, met on one side of the car and held hands as they slowly made their way to the lake where everyone waited.

Before leaving, Frisk said, "Thanks for, thinking about me and stuff. You're right, I wouldn't have had nearly as much fun if I had to do it alone."

"Like I said earlier, Frisk. I'm your brother."

Frisk smiled a mischievous smile. "Aren't you leaving out a part?"

"No, I'm trying to be emotional and say something heartwarming and nice to you, you smug jerk." Asriel frowned, but it soon broke into a grin, as they got out and jogged to catch up to everyone else.


End file.
